This was my final week of nightshifts, and a public holiday as well, which meant I was primarily listening to audiobooks. Expect full reviews of Clockwork Princess and The Golem and the Jinni in the near future. [book-info]This has been another week in which I gave up on a book. This time it was First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones. It started off excellently; the concept of a private investigator who is also a portal to Heaven and who must help the dead pass over sounded really intriguing and fun. I immediately clicked with the main character Charley. You’ve got a love a girl who, on waking up at 4am to the phone ringing and a strange dead guy standing by her bed asks said dead guy to answer the phone! The narrator, Lorelei King, did a great job bringing the story to life. My biggest issue with the book was that it very quickly veered HEAVILY into paranormal romance territory which was a real turnoff for me. I was more interested in hearing about Charley’s life as a Grim Reaper and far less in hearing about how her mysterious dream lover fires up her loins. Steelheart by…
This was my final week of nightshifts, and a public holiday as well, which meant I was primarily listening to audiobooks. Expect full reviews of Clockwork Princess and The Golem and the Jinni in the near future. [book-info]This has been another week in which I gave up on a book. This time it was First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones. It started off excellently; the concept of a private investigator who is also a portal to Heaven and who must help the dead pass over sounded really intriguing and fun. I immediately clicked with the main character Charley. You’ve got a love a girl who, on waking up at 4am to the phone ringing and a strange dead guy standing by her bed asks said dead guy to answer the phone! The narrator, Lorelei King, did a great job bringing the story to life. My biggest issue with the book was that it very quickly veered HEAVILY into paranormal romance territory which was a real turnoff for me. I was more interested in hearing about Charley’s life as a Grim Reaper and far less in hearing about how her mysterious dream lover fires up her loins. Steelheart by…
Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare is the second in the Infernal Devices trilogy. I have already reviewed Clockwork Angel, the first one in the set. I would say I enjoyed Prince more than Angel. In fact, I very much enjoyed it indeed. What I liked The characters. Clare spends a lot of time on character development in this book, possibly at the expense of plot, but it was well worth it. I already liked the characters from book one, and book two brings even more depth to them. What I found interesting with the two main male protagonists, Will and Jem, was how their physical appearance contrasted with their emotional makeup. Jem, with his silver hair and eyes and frail body seems almost ethereal yet emotionally Tessa describes him as solid, steady, reliable. Will, on the other hand, has dark, vibrant good looks, at the peak of physical perfection, is a broken and haunted soul. There are strong hints of this reversing however as Jem’s love for Tessa and his impending mortality leave him vulnerable and Will is making good progress battling his own internal demons. The love triangle. Often, love triangles in young adult novels make me cringe – I’m…
Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare is the second in the Infernal Devices trilogy. I have already reviewed Clockwork Angel, the first one in the set. I would say I enjoyed Prince more than Angel. In fact, I very much enjoyed it indeed. What I liked The characters. Clare spends a lot of time on character development in this book, possibly at the expense of plot, but it was well worth it. I already liked the characters from book one, and book two brings even more depth to them. What I found interesting with the two main male protagonists, Will and Jem, was how their physical appearance contrasted with their emotional makeup. Jem, with his silver hair and eyes and frail body seems almost ethereal yet emotionally Tessa describes him as solid, steady, reliable. Will, on the other hand, has dark, vibrant good looks, at the peak of physical perfection, is a broken and haunted soul. There are strong hints of this reversing however as Jem’s love for Tessa and his impending mortality leave him vulnerable and Will is making good progress battling his own internal demons. The love triangle. Often, love triangles in young adult novels make me cringe – I’m…
So this morning Amazon announced its new Kindle Paperwhite. According to the site, the new features are: new display technology 25% faster processor better touch technology next generation built-in light Kindle Page Flip – easier navigation smart lookup – dictionary is now integrated into X-Ray vocabulary builder GoodReads integration (Amazon recently bought the company) For me, the most exciting of these is the GoodReads integration. It looks awesome I love GoodReads and the integration will be very welcome. One thing I cannot see from the images is whether or not the screen is flush with the bezel as it is in the new Kobo Aura. That is a design feature I would love – I’m sure I’ve several biscuits worth of crumbs caught in the bezel. For us Canadians, it’s also exciting to see that the new Paperwhite is available for order from Amazon.ca at the same time as Amazon.com. Excellent. It’s good to feel less and less like the country cousin. One very disappointing thing is that it still does not provide audiobook support. The other thing announced this morning – thanks to Bufo Calvin of I Love My Kindle for bringing it to my attention – is MatchBook….
So this morning Amazon announced its new Kindle Paperwhite. According to the site, the new features are: new display technology 25% faster processor better touch technology next generation built-in light Kindle Page Flip – easier navigation smart lookup – dictionary is now integrated into X-Ray vocabulary builder GoodReads integration (Amazon recently bought the company) For me, the most exciting of these is the GoodReads integration. It looks awesome I love GoodReads and the integration will be very welcome. One thing I cannot see from the images is whether or not the screen is flush with the bezel as it is in the new Kobo Aura. That is a design feature I would love – I’m sure I’ve several biscuits worth of crumbs caught in the bezel. For us Canadians, it’s also exciting to see that the new Paperwhite is available for order from Amazon.ca at the same time as Amazon.com. Excellent. It’s good to feel less and less like the country cousin. One very disappointing thing is that it still does not provide audiobook support. The other thing announced this morning – thanks to Bufo Calvin of I Love My Kindle for bringing it to my attention – is MatchBook….
The Woken Gods by Gwenda Bond tells the story of Kyra Locke, a young woman living in a world where the mythological gods of legend have woken and are living in our society. Rick Riordan this is not; you will not find Bond’s Set in biker’s leathers happily munching on a hamburger in a diner. Bond’s gods are inhuman, deadly and barely kept in check. They do not even pretend to a veil of humanity. Kyra must work to prevent that fragile balance – and the world – from being destroyed. What I liked Strong narrative. Bond takes us through the story at a brisk pace, keeping the narrative tension high. The writing style is smart and efficient and kept me hooked on the story. Great characters. Everyone should have a best friend like Bree! I particularly appreciated that the kids were smart enough to realise there was no way they could defeat the bad guy on their own – it’s a bugbear of mine when young teenagers save the world on their own! I also thought the relationships between the characters were nicely written. The world. I did enjoy the world Bond has created – the gods were far…
The Woken Gods by Gwenda Bond tells the story of Kyra Locke, a young woman living in a world where the mythological gods of legend have woken and are living in our society. Rick Riordan this is not; you will not find Bond’s Set in biker’s leathers happily munching on a hamburger in a diner. Bond’s gods are inhuman, deadly and barely kept in check. They do not even pretend to a veil of humanity. Kyra must work to prevent that fragile balance – and the world – from being destroyed. What I liked Strong narrative. Bond takes us through the story at a brisk pace, keeping the narrative tension high. The writing style is smart and efficient and kept me hooked on the story. Great characters. Everyone should have a best friend like Bree! I particularly appreciated that the kids were smart enough to realise there was no way they could defeat the bad guy on their own – it’s a bugbear of mine when young teenagers save the world on their own! I also thought the relationships between the characters were nicely written. The world. I did enjoy the world Bond has created – the gods were far…