tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43114782887778788272024-03-12T19:14:37.069-07:00The Reading RoomBook reviews from an avid reader and part time writer.Kara Elissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05077098552564327454noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311478288777878827.post-88217399534777076102012-04-30T13:04:00.001-07:002012-04-30T13:04:54.702-07:00The Brazen SpindleTime once more for my bi-wheneverly update to this blog! Yes real life has jumped up and kicked me right in the teeth once more, overwhelming my time and my sense of creativity as it throws more crap at me. Also a lot of good things too, but they just need a hell of a lot more effort to achieve!<br />
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So today I bring you a review of The Brazen Spindle by T.R. Pippin.<br />
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This has to be quite honestly one of the best tales of magic, fairy tale worlds and gender altering spells I have come across. Hell even without the last bit it would have been a damn fine read!<br />
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The author was able to craft a fantasy world that was both in depth, well thought out and almost alive in the way it was set out. The scenes were set so well that it was easy to imagine them in your mind as you read the text. The characters are well crafted and not the frankly horrible two dimensional ones you often find in modern fiction.<br />
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All the characters explore what it means to be of each gender, the expectations one has to deal with, the challenges it brings and even the differences in generations as new ideas and thoughts come into play. The main character is almost trapped by the expectations and beliefs of the age he/she was brought up in and the thoughts and desires of her new body. After all, it certainly takes a lot of working out as to just how you need to be when you're a penniless skilled weaver turned cow turned beautiful woman!<br />
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I enjoyed it from start to finish, the sort of period drama that I would love to see more of, but the style that most authors would be afraid to write. The bad guy is a total cad, which is as lovely as it always is especially when they get what is coming to them, the friends of the protagonist are the type you'd like to have yourself and it has the usual selection of uppity types period tales are packed to the gunwales with. Well no gunwales in this book, that sort of thing is left for Hornblower!<br />
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So if you're looking for a book to spend a rainy day with (which there have been a lot of over on this side of the Atlantic of late!) then this is a great one to pick up and have a giggle with!<br />
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Five out of five.<br />
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The Brazen Spindle by T. R. Pippin<br />
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Available from Smashwords.comKara Elissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05077098552564327454noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311478288777878827.post-89702046330436012182012-04-01T14:49:00.000-07:002012-04-01T14:49:20.090-07:00Black Library's 15th AnniversaryAh time for my semi regular update to this review blog! Well its not that I don't read anything, just that when I do, I can't think of something to say in review, or just move straight onto the next book and get absorbed with that instead. That's even worse now I own a kindle and a new book is just a few clicks away!!<br />
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So anyway, instead of just reviewing one thing, I thought I'd do a little thing for the whole event going on over the the Black Library at the moment. 15 years in the business. Not bad for what many might call a niche market. Or at least it would have been if they hadn't managed to make the Dawn of War series a success and then get a game that was actually good onto the Xbox! Well two in fact if you count the xbox arcade game....<br />
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So anyway, as you might have guessed from what I've said here in previous reviews, I'm somewhat of a fan of the fiction produced to go along with the games of the warhammer universes. It makes the whole thing far more enjoyable and gives life to otherwise dull 2d characters. Well they're not exactly 2d but you should get what I'm on about..... maybe.<br />
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Well for the last fourteen days they've been producing a bunch of short stories to be downloaded directly from their website, each one written by a different author in their collection, each one dealing with a different aspect of one of the two universes. Sometimes we see established characters out for another jaunt, the first appearances of a brand new one soon to get their own novel/audio drama (their latest thing and I must say they are enjoyable to listen to, just not to wake up to at 3am to the sound of plague beasts howling!!). We even get brand new ones out for a visit as well.<br />
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Now, I'm not going to go through each one, partly because I have yet to download them all and partly because that would take forever to do, but so far, I have enjoyed everyone I have read. From the Crimson Fists returning to a grave of an old comrade in arms, to seeing a crazy Dwarf free a beast from the bloody pits of an arena, they each hold something a bit special that adds greater depths to the universes created by the company.<br />
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My only complaint is they end sooner than you think they would, but hey, thats a great marketing trick to get you to buy more books from them!!<br />
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So with one day left to go in the promotion, I highly suggest you head over there and pick them up! Great way to fill those ten minutes in the day when you're not sure what to do!<br />
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Five Stars<br />
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<a href="http://www.blacklibrary.com/" target="_blank">The Black Library</a>Kara Elissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05077098552564327454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311478288777878827.post-53678009712340633802012-02-08T21:48:00.000-08:002012-02-08T21:48:24.108-08:00The Walking Dead: Rise Of The GovernorAh the not so fantastic delights of wheneverly updates! Comes down to reading a lot, but not having ideas about what to put together as a review for you. But since I read a lot of cult stuff or those with a very small fan base, what's the point in writing about it if you don't recognise it?<br />
But todays review comes down to the fact that yes I have an idea for a review and also because it's twenty past five in the morning, I have work in a few hours and I haven't been able to get any sleep, despite having worked last night and spending an hour in the gym beasting my lazy muscles back into some semblance of shape!<br />
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So without further sleep deprived ramblings, here is the review of The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor by Jay Bonansinga and Robert Kirkman.<br />
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Now zombie apocalypse media has become one of the more recent fetishes for hollywood and apparently the mainstream American media culture, if what I've seen as an English girl is any indicator, over the last few years and it has seen the rise of some real gems across the media. From books, to tv programmes, films, video games and even comic books, it seems that the unquiet dead are becoming more popular than David Beckham and Jordan/Katy Price/whatever the fuck the slut is calling herself these days. Good thing too as they tend to make more sense than those brain dead cretins.<br />
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Now, I don't particularily like the whole living dead thing, find it pretty gross really but as I have said here in the past, or at least I think I have if my memory serves, is that what I do enjoy about this genre is the survival aspect. The idea that the world has gone to shit and you have to try and survive with just your wits and what you can pull from the ruins. Its why I like Fallout more than Left 4 Dead. However, there are some real gems in the zombie genre I do really enjoy. I love the mixed bag that is Max Brooks' 'World War Z' despite its naive stereotypes, I thought zombieland was a slice of crazy fun, and I enjoyed the first Left 4 Dead game a lot and Resident Evil has had my vote for everything I've played in it (mainly 5 but I tried the earlier games I could find) and I'm REALLY looking forward to Operation Raccoon City and number 6 (the trailer for which looks fucking immense and just hope the game stands up to it). I also liked the first series of The Walking Dead and the balls up in their advertising for it they did on this side of the Atlantic still has me giggling like a schoolgirl in her first pair of grown up tights! So when I saw this book I was holding out great hopes for it matching the series.<br />
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Yet at this point the old adage of 'don't judge a book by it's cover' really should have shot through my mind like a 9mm parabellum. I expected Rise Of The Governor to be the absorbing character driven narrative of the tv series, but to be honest as soon as I started reading it on my kindle, I was sadly disappointed.<br />
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The writing style is confused, making it feel as if you are reading the arsewater writing of a fourteen year old with several important parts of their brain missing. There is no creativity or flair to it, and the author couldn't seem to settle on any style, be it third or first person or anything for that matter and the final result was more someone trying to describe a visual event while off their face on a few bottles of damn strong vodka. This trend of not settling into a narrative structure continued throughout the whole book, leaving it feeling mismatched, disjointed and wholly unsatisfying. I find it hard to describe the actual way the book was written as I don't think that way and the only comparison I can draw for you is reading an essay of a classmate who didn't have a good grasp of the subject matter or a strong grasp of the english language. Stumbling in the dark if you will.<br />
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The characters are two dimensional, not emotional depth to them, no scope, no proper interaction. You cannot connect to them on any level and are left more with the hope that the damn walking dead will end up just fucking eating them and doing it quickly so the damn book will end! Minor characters are brought in and vanish quickly, and most of the damn time any attempt at building up who they are only happens before they bow out of the narrative one way or another. So what is the point in even having them in there if you're not going to develop them, especially when the characters you keep don't see ANY development?<br />
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Another point that bugs me is that the author just had to play the fucking religious card. Oh whoop de fucking do, a god botherer character like we haven't seen that in just about every other piece of fricking american media! Now ok, I get it, religion is a big thing for you guys, or at least seems to be with the way elements of your entertainment industry wax lyrical about it, but do we need it in everything? And do we need such a character to be built out of one who at the start of the book showed absolutely no religious bent at all? Seriously, find another method of dealing with your characters than making one into a bible bashing retard, especially for an apocalyptic storyline where its really just not needed because its been used in everything from computer games (Half Life 2 springs to mind first of all) to movies, Independence Day for example.<br />
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Perhaps this book was aimed at fans of the comic books, and maybe the narrative and its sense of structure makes more sense to them than just someone who might just happen to pick it up off the shelf, but I'm not sure about that.<br />
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All in all, I think it was a book that had so much potential to be awesome and take its place amongst the best of the genre, but it just let itself down at every possible stage. If you are a fan of everything Walking Dead, then this might be for you, if you're not a fan, liked the series or just after something to read, forget this and find something better to spend your money on.<br />
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I give this, two out of five stars.<br />
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The Walking Dead: Rise Of The Governor by Jay Bonansinga and Robert Kirkman.<br />
Available through bookstores and the Amazon Kindle service.Kara Elissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05077098552564327454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311478288777878827.post-64164193515861256442012-01-01T21:39:00.000-08:002012-01-01T21:39:30.020-08:00Fair GameDisgustingly late with my updates to this blog aren't I? Well I blame it on reading a lot but not finishing much. That and I'm lazy when it comes to doing commitments!<br />
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Anyway with my crazy long delay to one side, I want to wish you all a very happy and productive 2012 and I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas celebrations. I know I did, I had a week off for one thing!!<br />
And since the festive period always brings me some new pieces to wrap my eyes around (three books given to me this year, and time to read them!!), I sank myself into some proper reading, finishing the book I had been reading, which I won't be writing a review of simply because it's about book six of a series (David Weber wrote a lot for that series and I've been trying to dig into it. Good reads though. Hornblower in space is already a winner!), another warhammer 40k book, Salvation's Reach the latest in the Gaunts Ghosts series by Dan Abnett that I had really been looking forward to reading and yep, it was a damn fine read at that, and I know what is going to happen to a few of his characters in a book or two. He does tend to follow predictable lines after a while, downside to writing a long series really.<br />
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The final book I was given is the focus for the review today, Fair Game by Stephen Leather.<br />
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Now this book is a real departure from what I normally read, which if you haven't guessed yet is mainly military sci fi, general sci fi and girl on girl romance, as this book is modern day military fiction, but I have to admit that I did enjoy it, far more than other similar books I have tried and failed to get on with in the past.<br />
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The story follows Daniel 'Spider' Shepherd, a former SAS soldier now working as an agent for MI5 and the tasks he is put onto. We join the action in Ireland where he is undercover in the Real IRA, where he is forced to shoot two of the bad guys to save the life of an undercover cop, thus blowing his cover.<br />
On his return to England, his break is cut short when he is brought in on a case involving the pirates of Somalia, and is asked to find out who might be leaking data from a shipping company to a particular band of pirates.<br />
Bit of a boring and shitty job for a guy used to kicking in the door and chucking a flashbang in eh? Well you'd be right, but things don't stay that way for long when a yacht is captured by the pirates where one of the captives is the God-daughter of the PM. Uh oh.<br />
So without giving much more of the plot away, there's action on the high seas (no buckles swashed, but something more akin to Seagal and Under Siege) an international terror plot and some high paced adrenaline action in Africa and the UK itself, you have a story worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster, just with a hell of a lot less technical errors.<br />
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Now I quite literally just finished this book (bout half an hour ago) and I have to say that I did enjoy it. The main character isn't some 2d action hero, but a far more well rounded character and the other characters in the book are pretty well fleshed out too, which does make a nice change from what we seem to be getting in a lot of modern media. I found myself quite absorbed in it, finishing it in just a couple of days between bouts of heavy drinking and eating and yelling at my TV as some fucker snuck up behind me on Battlefield 3 or Ace Combat Assault Horizon (yes that is this girl's preferred sort of video game.). I found myself associating with the characters a lot more than I would have expected to given my previous history with such books and spent most of the time hoping that the various bad guys would meet their end in a very messy way, my own personal feelings about the groups they belong to aside, which as you can probably guess I have increasing levels of hatred for.<br />
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The narrative is quite well paced and as I've said, rather involving, the ending pretty satisfactory as well which also seems to be a rare thing. My only complaint about the ending is that the bad guy at that stage as a far to clean an ending and for my money needed a much nastier end, but that is just me and I'm sure others would find it fine. For the bulk of the book however, my only complaint is that it takes ages to truly get going, most of the action happening in the last hundred or so pages of the book. Annoying, but something you can live with. Just.<br />
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However, this book is actually the eighth in the series the author has written for this particular character, which I hadn't realised till I was some way into it and I'm pretty sure the person who gave it to me hadn't noticed either. Yet this is not a problem at all. The book is well written enough for this not to matter, allowing you to jump straight into the action of this book without the need for you to have read the books preceeding it. You do feel as if there are a couple of details you might have missed, but in the end its not a major problem and doesn't distract from the enjoyment of this narrative.<br />
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With everything this book has to offer, I give it a solid five stars. A damn fine read all told.<br />
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Fair Game by Stephen Leather.<br />
ISBN: 978-0-340-92498-3<br />
Author website: www.stephenleather.comKara Elissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05077098552564327454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311478288777878827.post-8238789880146766672011-11-21T04:57:00.000-08:002011-11-21T04:57:16.271-08:00Bioshock: RaptureWell I've managed to break through the frozen wall that went up around my imagination of late and get some proper reading done, actually reading a book through from start to finish without breaking it up and reading several others all at once (which I have been doing of late. Reading two paperbacks [My Friend The Mercenary and Imperial Glory] and numerous books on my new kindle which I got as a birthday present just over a month ago is pretty damn crazy) and well Bioshock Rapture was that one!<div><br />
</div><div>Set in the world of the computer game Bioshock, the book covers the events that lead up to the start of the first game covering the construction, inhabitation and decent into shit the city is when you play through it in the first game.</div><div><br />
</div><div>It brings in all the various characters that appear either as NPCs or on the tape recordings found about the city, such as Andrew Ryan the city's creator, Frank Fontaine/Atlas the crazy badguy, Dr Tannenbaum the scientist behind the discovery of ADAM the genetic altering chemcial that is the route of the powers available in the game.</div><div><br />
</div><div>The so called three ages of Rapture the book is broken down into cover each stage of the city's development as well as the characters present and sets up the action well for the game that is a direct sequel in the universe's timeline. We are presented with Fontaine's attempts to take the city, Dr Lamb's (the villain from the second game) methods of controlling the populace of Rapture and Ryan's slow descent into totalitarianism and tyranny.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Now I did enjoy the start of the book, how they came to be there, how the went about building the city and so forth, but I quickly lost my enjoyment for it as it progressed. Points were overstretched, characters became two dimensional mockeries and then even less than that. The story line became depressing and outright annoying and the ending left so much to be desired I'd have given it a F if it had been presented to me as a twelve year old's first attempts at writing fiction.</div><div><br />
</div><div>What is it about modern books that have to create this atmosphere of depression and killing off characters you've grown to love over the course of the book? What is the fucking point of doing that because surely all it would do is lose you future readers? Bloody irritating really.</div><div><br />
</div><div>For this book, if it was spilt down into several books instead of just one, I'd give the first part four stars, the second part three and because of the ending the last part would only get two stars.</div>Kara Elissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05077098552564327454noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311478288777878827.post-67718724861854037202011-10-11T07:35:00.000-07:002011-10-11T07:38:42.585-07:00Sabbat Worlds AnthologyNever let it be said that I forget things completely. Ok so it might take me a few months to remember them, but I always get it sorted out in the end. Usually....<br />
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Anyways after my somewhat long hiatus for reviews here, which I don't have any excuse that would stand up in court, but mainly boils down to the fact that I've been reading about eight books at once and not finished one or have finished one but was removed from a computer to actually write a review on, today I bring you a review on the Sabbat Worlds Anthology, from various authors at Games Workshop's literary branch, the Black Library.<br />
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Yes I know, another Warhammer 40,000 book review, shock horror and all that, but hey, I started writing fan fiction for them more than five years ago now so my heart is always kinda with them, if not my purse.<br />
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The Sabbat Worlds Anthology is a collection of short stories based in the insanely popular region of the 40k 'verse created by the god himself, Mr Dan Abnett. Mr Abnett happens to be one of my favourite authors (his book, Xenos, the first of the Eisenhorn trilogy was the first bit of 40k fiction I ever read and occupies a special place in my heart and on the book shelf). The collection has pieces from some of the biggest authors from the dark and dusty halls of the Library and with names such as Sandy Mitchell (author of the Ciaphus Cain series) and Graham McNeil (author of the Ultramarine series of books, Storm of Iron and several of the Horus Heresy series) you can be pretty much assured that the anthology is going to be a good read before you get started.<br />
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Set in the Sabbat Worlds, each short story takes a shot at events outside the main Gaunt's Ghost story arc (apart from the two pieces written by Abnett of course), and we are taken to places such as a world under the rule of the archenemy and the resistance fighters against them (ala Traitor General style) to aerial combat with the Apostles (the elite Navy wing introduced in Double Eagle) to combat with the arrogant Volpone Bluebloods.<br />
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Each story has it's merits, but I did find that some of them were far better than others, and tended to be more enjoyable as a result, while a couple of them felt like a chore to read and just something to get through to reach the next story. Also, like a lot of material from the Black Library and Games Workshop in general, they borrow so heavily from other sources it feels like you're just seeing the original set in a sci fi environment. With one of the tales pretty much Third Man In Space, I already knew what was going to happen and was half expecting Carol Reed to jump out of his grave and complain bitterly to the Daily Telegraph!<br />
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Despite this, the Anthology on the whole was pretty enjoyable and filled in a few gaps in the story arc of the Sabbat Worlds crusade and brought back a few characters, that if not favourites were good to hear from once again.<br />
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So if you feel like diving into the dark universe of the 40k worlds and the war torn hell of the Sabbat Worlds, then this is a must buy before you pick up the new Gaunt's Ghosts novel (Salvations Reach, which I have yet to buy) as it will ease you back into the region created and the characters and locations we have seen in the series to date, even if at times it makes you want to slap the authors for their lack of complete originality.<br />
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All in all, four out of five stars. Enjoyable but a few places that drag.<br />
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Sabbat Worlds Anthology<br />
Available from the Black Library website (www.blacklibrary.com) as ebook format or from places such as Amazon for paper copies.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blacklibrary.com/Images/Product/DefaultBL/xlarge/Sabbat-Worlds-Anthology.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.blacklibrary.com/Images/Product/DefaultBL/xlarge/Sabbat-Worlds-Anthology.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>Kara Elissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05077098552564327454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311478288777878827.post-82304812673297819872011-10-08T03:02:00.000-07:002011-10-08T03:02:18.372-07:00DelaysSorry that I haven't uploaded any fresh reviews to this blog in the last month. My life has been rather hectic of late what with work, demands of my department at my second job, courses to organise, and being away for a fortnight in a foreign country as part of my job do tend to leave very little time to sit down, read a novel and write a review on it.<br />
Fear not, however. I am still reading things, just taking me a little longer with my time sapped steadily away, and will be uploading new reviews here, hopefully in the near future. So please keep watching this blog and if you have any comments on the reviews or the books I've already gone through, or any suggestions for things I should read, please post them here. Any feedback is always appreciated.<br />
So till next time, take care and keep reading, sweeties!Kara Elissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05077098552564327454noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311478288777878827.post-66537665245797446452011-09-09T01:07:00.000-07:002011-09-09T01:07:25.162-07:00Coalition's End<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times;">Today I bring you a review of Coalition's End by Karen Traviss.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times;">Warning some spoilers ahead, can't really avoid them this time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times;">Coalition's End forms the fourth book in the fantastic novel series tied in with the Xbox game title, Gears of War, the deliciously gory example of modern sci-fi gameplay, better than Halo simply because it includes a chainsaw bayonet and gore spray. Now if Halo had that....<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times;">Following on from the events of the previous book Anvil Gate, the fourth book in the series continues the events that occur after the end of the second game. With the last 'safe' bastion of humanity against the Locust horde, the city of Jacinto, sunk by the COG forces in an attempt to end the war once and for all after the failure of Operation Hollow Storm (that's the bit at the start of the second game folks, where you go underground to take the fight to the Locust) and the heavy losses they took as a result, the survivors have gone from place to place looking for a safe haven. What they found started out as a pretty peaceful little island, at least that was until the Lambent showed up.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times;">Glowing Locust creatures and a variety of brand new beasties, all explosive thanks to their nature, are attacking the COG in their last holdout, but with internal struggles and the risks of this new foe fighting them, the last piece of human civilisation is crumbling away.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times;">This book, like all of Karen Traviss' tie in work (i read the start of her own original series and didn't like it much), is a great example of just how she can throw you into this world headfirst and have you screaming and running for your life as some 'orrible beastie charges at you wanting to turn you into it's mid morning snack. She is able to create a sense of realism not only to the characters (arguably the most important bit of writing a successful story let alone a long running series) but to the environment as well. The sense of desperation that is created as you are taking along for the ride with the last human survivors, both COG and the Stranded, in the blasted world of Sera, is so intense you could cut it with a spoon and sell it on Ebay. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times;">Her characters, both the ones already known from the games and those she has created for the novel tie ins are real enough to make you believe they are in fact real people that you might meet on the street rather than an imaginary creation and their dramas and struggles are worthy of any television drama series.</span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times;">The story line is fast paced, keeps you guessing as to the nature of the enemy the humans are facing (which is obviously not revealed at this point. My money is that they are saving that for the game itself) and sets everything up nicely for the game, and my only problem with it is that it doesn't go into the depth it could and ends earlier than you think it should, but since she has written the story for the thrid game, we know we won't be left hanging with it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times;">Five stars for this one.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times;">Gears of War, Coalition's End by Karen Traviss.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal">available from pretty much any bookshop or web seller.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><!--EndFragment-->Kara Elissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05077098552564327454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311478288777878827.post-79449811641082921522011-08-09T15:16:00.000-07:002011-08-09T15:16:07.980-07:00Garro - Oath Of MomentToday I bring you a review of Oath Of Moment by James Swallow.<br />
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I have promised several people reviews of tales from the deliciously dark universe of Warhammer 40k, and well here's my first! Unlike my previous reviews and many of the others yet to come, this is not a review of a book, but rather an audio drama written exclusively for Games Workshop's publishing section, the Black Library (link to the side).<br />
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The story is set in the Horus Heresy series that has become one of the flagship series for the company in recent years, and follows on from the events of the fourth book in the series 'The Flight Of The Eisenstein' and follows the tale of Captain Nathaniel Garro, the loyalist captain from the traitor legion of the Death Guard.<br />
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Garro, once a battle captain of the Death Guard legion of space marines, has seen his brothers and primarch (genetically designed super warriors, the gene sons of the Emperor) betray their oaths to the Emperor and the Imperium and join the traitor Horus and his legion of marines, along with the same happening with several other legions creating the core of the civil war that is just starting in the galaxy, as well as the slaughter of the loyalist elements of those legions on Istvann 3, having fled to Earth to warn the Emperor and the loyal legions about the traitors gathering in the Istvaan system, has been locked up in the facility on Luna (the moon) awaiting the judgement of the Emperor and his subordinates, namely Malcador the Sigilette.<br />
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Malcador comes to the imprisoned space marine and offers him the chance to serve him and therefore, the Emperor. Garro is ordered to search out and find key figures from across the legions, both traitor and loyalist, and form a group to conduct missions to secure the fate of the Imperium. Burning his sigil into the armour of the former Death Guard captain, Malcador sends Garro out into the galaxy to begin his quest, the stylised 'I' burned into his metal coloured armour.<br />
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For fans of this universe, doubtless you have already recognised what I mean by that symbol. Yes it is the mark of the Inquisition of the current timeline, which begs the questions of, did the Emperor approve the formation of the Inquisition during his time before the Golden Throne life support machine, is Garro therefore the First Inquisitor, and just what will they be getting up to during the galaxy spanning civil war? These questions are not answered during the course of the tale, but maybe we'll see something in the future.<br />
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Garro goes onto recruit his first member in the fires of the war, and ends up in one of the bitter battles of the Heresy.<br />
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The writing for this tale is snappy and fast flowing, giving it the feel of a frenetic fast paced combat and it allows you to cast your mind into the tale, landing you square in the middle of the action, your heart pounding as bolt shells and laser fire whips over your head.<br />
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The narrator, coupled with the nigh on perfect sound effects and soundtrack only serve to highten the feeling that you are a part of the fighting on this particular world and you can almost smell the discharge of weapons and the smell of a burning battlefield in your nostrils.<br />
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The characters, while not as fully fleshed out as some of the more memorable figures in the 40k universe (such as Commissar Gaunt and the Ghosts for example), are able to stand out from the vast majority of the often two dimensional figures some writers create and it stays away from florid prose that goes a grand total of no where quickly and from bogging itself down in superfluous details that have no bearing on the action as a whole.<br />
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Really, this audio drama is well worth the small amount of cash it takes to download it. The story, soundtrack and narration all serve to provide a vision of the grim future of the 40k universe that is able to spring out of the codex books and novels and punch you straight in the face with an activated power fist!<br />
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Four Stars<br />
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Garro - Oath Of Moment by James Swallow read by Toby Longworth.<br />
Only available as a download from the Black Library website (link in the side panel)<br />
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Kara Elissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05077098552564327454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311478288777878827.post-73609149355222070662011-08-04T17:39:00.000-07:002011-08-04T17:39:08.764-07:00Patient Zero<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Today I bring you a review of Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now I read a lot of zombie horror and such post apocalyptic texts. Why? I enjoy them, the idea of survival against the odds, fighting against an implacable enemy that is out to destroy the very thing that makes you human, all that 'good' stuff. This won't come as much of a surprise considering during my teenage years I read a lot of military sci-fi and have spent the last five years writing fan fiction for the deliciously dark universe that is Warhammer 40k, but more on that later.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Patient Zero is a book I have seen about on book store shelves for some time now, but after I finished reading Annie On My Mind, I went looking on Amazon's kindle store to find something new to plunge into and low and behold, Patient Zero was the result. Now I'm not going to spend ages going on about my thoughts of eBooks versus proper print here, I'll save that for another time, so I'll just jump straight into the review.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Patient Zero follows the story of Joe Ledger, a cop set to head off to the FBI training facility to start a career with them. However, as you might have guessed, things don't exactly go according to plan. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The book opens with a raid on a suspected terrorist cell operating on the eastern coast of the United States where Joe and his team encounter an extremely violent and deranged individual that tries to bite Ledger. Yes you guessed it; this is the patient zero of the zombie plague. After dropping it with a couple of shots in the back, Ledger is left to ponder his fate awaiting a review when he is bundled away by a bunch of feds and introduced to the mysterious 'Mr. Church' and the Department of Military Sciences, the DMS, which just happens to be a super secret military organisation with a blank check from the US president. Cue the guy Ledger shot reanimated and hungry for flesh.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The story progresses along the usual conspiracy and gory lines common to a hell of a lot of fiction out on the market these days with the author trying to legitimise his plot line by bringing in lots of high tech equipment and rare medical diseases that his whole virus is hinged upon. Strangely enough, Mr. Maberry is able to keep the whole thing both realistic and tied up well together for the main narrative following the exploits of Ledger, Church and the DMS as they seek out who and what is behind the plague and try to stop it from becoming the world ending pandemic in the vein of Day By Day series, World War Z and just about anything by George A. Romero. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Unfortunately, this is where his whole book starts to fall apart.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Clearly he had put in a lot of research to cover his virus and US sections of the story, and kept that working, but the author brought in elements both unnecessary and frankly, very poorly done. His bad guys are the classic Hollywood black hats of recent years, fanatical Muslims so dosed up on their twisted brand of Islam that they are quite happy to see the rest of the world burn, and what almost seems to be a requirement for undead media, a pharmaceutical company obsessed with money. Great, like we haven't seen that before! His villains are overdone, unbelievable and almost ruin the plot line with their antics. They make what was a good conspiracy read into propaganda bullshit. With these characters, the whole book starts to read like a recruitment drive for the US military and I can just imagine a bunch of people reading this book while saluting the Stars and Stripes and singing the American national anthem.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now, I'm British through and through, cut me in half and you'll find the Union Jack imprinted in me like a stick of Brighton Rock after you get past the royal seal tattooed on my arse, and like most Brits dismissive of anything American (we're just painfully polite about it ;) ), but this kind of propaganda I'm seeing more and more frequently just makes me sick. There is no need for it and it ruins the effect of a narrative.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My biggest problem with this book however, is the way Maberry shoehorns the British military into the narrative. While research was done on the medical side for his virus, the author clearly didn't spent an second of his time while putting this story together to research the British military. He has come up with units, corrupted others, got equipment wrong, operating procedures wrong and created a fantasy version of the UK forces that all Americans seem to have brought into over the last few decades.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So let's go for a run down of his fuckups here shall we? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1: British forces use halftracks. - We have not used halftracks since the Second World War and the early years of the Cold War and most of those were American machines purchased through Lease Lend.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2: British forces always forget mission objectives to care for casualties - NO. Mission always comes first. The UK forces will leave casualties until the battle has been won. We are not driven by the almost suicidal addiction to 'No Man Left Behind'. That is an American ideal, not ours.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3: Bastion Hospital takes wounded from Iraq - NO! Oddly enough there were field hospitals in our area of control in Iraq during the years we were there. NO casualties would ever have been transferred between warzones, because that is A. stupid B. runs the risk of them dying during transit and C. would involve flying over hostile airspace! There is no link between Iraq and Afghanistan that doesn't cross the airspace of at least three other nations. The quickest route is over Iran and yeah, that ain't going to happen.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4: Bastion hospital cannot care for battlefield injuries - Fucking bullshit. Bastion hospital is one of the best facilities in the world and can care for almost any injury going. It has top of the line gear and top of the line staff.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">5: A pediatric doctor put in charge of triage - Ok what the fuck? Why would a PEDIATRIC doctor even be doing in uniform? It's not like there's a big call for them in the army is it? Dumbass addition.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">6: There's a unit called the Sixteenth Air Assault Brigade - Nope, it's just 16 Air Assault Brigade. We only have the one.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">7: There's a unit called the First Royal Anglian Regiment - NOPE! It's just the Royal Anglian Regiment. It's got numbered battalions and we shorthand that to One Royal Anglians while speaking. Did he actually bother to check this up? Clearly not.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">8: A pharmaceutical company can create a false identity for a terrorist as a British soldier so he can get in through the system. - Yeah just plain NO!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">9: The Royal Navy operates hospital ships - Not since the Falklands. All casualties’ head back to Selly Oak Hospital.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">10: Foreign nationals and Red Cross doctors operate on said hospital ships - No, guess again Mr. Maberry. ONLY British military personnel work in British military hospitals. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">11: A Red Cross ship takes British military casualties around the world for treatment - Yeah fuck off.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">12: There's a unit called the one hundred odd (forget the number he used) Armoured - NOPE! We have very few armoured units, even less now (thanks to the SDSR)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">13: British forces worked in the area around Najaf, Iraq - No the yanks did. We operated around Basra, and if you get that wrong, you're really not trying.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">14: Terrorists can plan and execute an ambush that would bring British troops running to their faked halftrack and casualties - Yeah no. Oddly enough you have something called a communications network that allows you to keep track of units in the field, and terrorists can access it because its known as something called a SECURE NETWORK!!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">15: British casualties in Afghanistan are so high that whole units get wiped out and battalions have to be rotated rapidly to replace losses. - There is no excuse for this one. Ever. Maberry go cut your wrists you fuck. You do NOT make light of sacrifices made by soldiers and you NEVER write ANYTHING saying about losses being higher than in reality. You're on my list for this one, motherfucker.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">16: Women serve in the SAS - No. Women do not serve in any branch that would lead them to the SAS. You have to be infantry of some form to have the skills to get there and to be in an infantry unit you have to be male. The SAS is and infantry unit (classed as by the MoD) so NO WOMEN ALLOWED!!! This is a popular one with authors and filmmakers, and one that is easily rectified. Get it right, fuckos!!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Well that's that rant over, but you can see the problem. If you're going to put that sort of thing into your story, you could at least spend a couple of days getting your research right, or in the case of Mr. Maberry, just doing some fucking research would be a starter for ten!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All in all, Patient Zero is a good read spoiled by unnecessary characters, poorly created situations outside the main plot line and hamstrung by piss poor research and stupid mistakes, and too many short, choppy chapters. If you can leave that to one side, the main plot line is a good read and is worthy of being held up there as one of the better pieces of zombie fiction, and would be there so long as the editor earned his paycheck.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><!--EndFragment--> <br />
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Three stars.<br />
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Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry<br />
eISBN: 978 0 5750 8694 4<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-re2JBnlK7wc/TVcXM2A1MXI/AAAAAAAAEpQ/sP_xgAhVkvY/s1600/Patient+Zero.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-re2JBnlK7wc/TVcXM2A1MXI/AAAAAAAAEpQ/sP_xgAhVkvY/s320/Patient+Zero.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>Kara Elissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05077098552564327454noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311478288777878827.post-37251401779060868852011-08-02T12:04:00.000-07:002011-08-02T12:04:50.553-07:00Annie On My MindWell for my first review I bring you Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden.<div><br />
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<div>The book follows the story of Annie and (E)liza, two teenage girls from very different backgrounds from New York as they explore their feelings for one another. </div><div><br />
</div><div>The book starts in a somewhat unassuming way as Liza sits in her room at MIT trying to get her mind straight about past events and just what Annie means to her. You get the slightly nasty feeling creeping up on you at this point that perhaps this might just end up as a depressing tale of lost love or a Sunset Boulevard style tale, yet the author manages to avoid this trap nicely as she just speeds on into the action of the main story, only dropping it back into the present at MIT after some major event in the storyline has occurred with each time having Liza work through her thoughts about it.</div></div><div><br />
</div><div>As with most LGBT fiction I've come across, the characters are remarkable in some way, having some skill that sets them apart from the crowd and enchants the other player in the romance of the novel, and Annie On My Mind is no exception to this apparent rule. The first time we are introduced to Annie in one of the many museums the pair visit during the course of the book she is singing beautifully, which just happens to grab Liza's attention. This sort of feature could easily be over done and ruin the feel of the novel as a whole, but Nancy Garden is able just to weave it into the background, making it more part of the character than a focus of the story, making the book feel far more well rounded and natural than it might have been if the point had been laboured. </div><div><br />
</div><div>During the narrative the pairs relationship evolves, drawing them closer together until they are all but inseparable. The moment of their first kiss is so touching that it makes you long for the moment you too shared such an embrace, and although they both feel the same, that one moment sends them spiralling into confusion, not sure about their feelings they have or how to approach them but with them both still absolutely obsessed with one another. Their growing passion is cut through with school problems (as we all suffered in one form or another during our school years!) and the problems of just finding the space to express their love when they are constantly surrounded by people and like all teenagers, unable to break away to find that space.</div><div><br />
</div><div>As you might have expected, that space arrives but brings down the conflict element to the story, the religious school teachers both obsessed with the bible and the face of the school Liza attends. Their response to the girls makes you want to jump into the action and wring their necks, yet the author manages to convey not just the religious intolerance they have for the lesbian nature of the girls, but avoids overdoing it which is all too easily done to make them seem like the villain, but also manages to keep the characters humanity throughout, which just reminds you that they are not the black hat faceless villain of some cowboy movie.</div><div><br />
</div><div>All told, this novel although written for the teenage market is grown up in its approach to the themes it presents the reader, well crafted and superbly written, taking you a literal roller coaster of emotions through the course of the narrative. It leaves you wanting to know more and will bring you back to your teenage years and the way you felt about your first love.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Five stars.</div><div><br />
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</div><div>Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden</div><div>ISBN: 978-0-374-40011-8</div><div><br />
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</div>Kara Elissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05077098552564327454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311478288777878827.post-54836859634305424012011-08-02T09:25:00.000-07:002011-08-02T09:25:28.460-07:00Hello and welcome!Well hello there and welcome to this little spot of mine here on the web! Unlike a similarly named short story series of mine (which can be found over in the Library section of Rachel's Haven see the links to the side!), this site will be dedicated to reviewing the books I come across and read.<br />
I'll try and update this place as often as possible, but I hope you can understand any gaps between posts. It does take time to read through a novel after all!<br />
So if you don't mind reading the text version of my verbal rambling, I hope you enjoy what I bring you and that you pick up some of the titles I review. Keep reading folks!Kara Elissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05077098552564327454noreply@blogger.com0