His Black Wings: A Book Review

 

Today I'm going to tell you about and review a new, "lesser-known" author's book, His Black Wings!

His Black Wings by Astrid Yrigollen

When I received the request to be a part of this blog tour, I read through the summary and decided I'd sign up for a review. I'm happy today I do not regret that decision.The plot of this story was really original and really interesting. I found the characters interesting and individual. Sadly, there were major flaws in the style of the writing.

His Black Wings is about a young girl, Claren, whose parents have just died. The day of her funeral, some rather horrible circumstances befall Claren and she is forced to flee her childhood home and leave her inheritance behind. While running, she realizes that the money she has cannot hold her forever and she must seek work. Luckily, there is an ad in the local town's newspaper requesting a live-in secretary at a distant country estate. Seeing the perfect opportunity to get away from her troubles, Claren applies and gets the job! But her employer is quite strange and dark with many secrets. Finally leaving for the country estate of Westwind, Claren learns there may be more secrets in that house than she's ready for.

This book is set in a future neo-Victorian era. The setting is interestingly built, but I felt it was lacking in conveying the author's research of the Victorian era. The terminology and word structure were often awkward and not characteristic of the era she was trying to create. As I said, the plot was extremely interesting and original. The deformity, the cause of that deformity, the story itself, were all very nice and I liked them.

The characters were all individual. That is to say each had a voice and a personality seperate from the others. I really liked that. Many times you will find the side characters have less personality and tend to blend together, but that doesn't happen with any of the characters here. Even Timothy, a young member of the staff at Westwind who never speaks, has his own personality. I also really loved the unique relationships the characters develop. The boys, Dekker and Horace, are cute on their own, but together they make a beautiful set of friends. Etrigan is extremely interesting in that we get to actually see his character grown and learn social norms. Claren as a character is a little weak, but not enough to cause serious issues in the story. The relationship between Dekker, Horace, Claren, and Etrigan is amazing and I adore it!

Now for the main problems I have. I felt that the story was poorly edited. For instance, at one point the author writes "less," instead of "lest" and another "awaking," instead of "awakening." I also found myself wanted more comma usage than there was. The punctuation and styling and diction were all very awkward and I disliked it. Maybe they were stylistic choice made, but I disliked them nonetheless and they made the book seem unfinished and poorly edited.

Though the formatting, punctuation, style, and word choices were questionable, the story itself was very nice. I enjoyed reading it, when I wasn't mentally correcting grammar, adding punctuation, or questioning word choices. Perhaps that is just the English major in me. I would suggest this book if your like original plot lines and can easily over look strange wording and lack of punctuation. Over all, 3/5 stars.

Have you read His Black Wings? What did you think? Did the stylistic and wording choices made bother you, or was that just me?

Coexist: A Book Review

Coexist by Julia Crane
Published: June 2011
Buy: Amazon or E-book
Format: E-book
Source: Smashwords

I grabbed this book off Smashwords thinking it sounded like a good idea, so I sad down and read it rather quickly. I wasn't blown away, but it was good and it kept my attention. The plot was a good idea, but I felt the execution was a little lacking as was the character development. There were also a couple of typos, but those could be over looked.

Coexist is the story of a young elf named Keegan. She is living, mostly, seamlessly in the human world biding her time until she turns 18 and can meet her chosen, her one true mate. Little does she know the war between the Light and the Dark is nipping at her heels, her chosen, Rourk, is secretly protecting her, and the war will change everything she ever thought to be true.

As short as that description is, I feel that it is an accurate summary of the events. This novel is less than two-hundred pages with not too much story to it. My initial reaction when finishing the book was excitement and annoyance, but with further thought and calming down from the action, I realized there wasn't much there. The main character, Keegan, was underdeveloped and I felt she was unlikable in her naivety and perfection. The secondary character, such a Keegan's friends, are picked up and dropped as they are needed. I dislike losing characters or character traits simply because it's no longer of use. I feel the story could use a lot more thought and planning.

That's not to say I didn't like the book. I did, while I was reading it. I really did like Thaddeus, Keegan's younger brother. He was interesting and a nice character. I feel he acted responsibly, but not unrealistically, given his age and role in the book and war. I also liked Richard, Keegan's father. And, of course, Keegan's chosen, Rourk. They were all much more developed and likable than Keegan herself. I would love to hear the story from Thaddeus's point of view.

Over all, I'm giving this book a three-star rating because it was decent enough to keep me interested and invested in the relationship between Keegan and Rourk, but I really was not impressed at all by the style or the character development. I probably will not choose to pick up the second book. In truth, I wouldn't have picked this one up were it not free. It's worth the read if you have the time or nothing else to read and you like fantasy novels, but do not expect anything extravagant or well thought out.

Have you read Coexist? What did you think? Think I'm being too critical? 

Do you think the standard for free/self-published e-books is much lower than for printed books? 

Cinder: A Book Review

“Even in the Future the Story Begins with Once Upon a Time.” 
― Marissa Meyer

Cinder by Melissa Meyer
Published: January 2012
Buy: Amazon or B&N
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library

I picked this one up at the library after first seeing it in a bookstore when it was first released. It sounded decent enough at the time and I figured I'd come back for it in paperback. Then everyone online started reading and reviewing, giving it rather good review, so I grabbed it up (quite a bit behind the review train). I wasn't over whelmed, but it was good. I think fans of retellings would enjoy this. Though, if it hadn't been outright stated, I probably would not have seen the Cinderella correlation. I think I could have enjoyed the book a lot more had I not been trying to peg characters to their counterparts in the original tale. It's seldom good when I compare novels to originals.

As I said above, Cinder is a retelling of the classic Grim tale Cinderella.
Cinder is a 16 year old cyborg living in New Beijing with her adoptive mother, sisters, and a little android name Iko. She is known as the best mechanic in New Beijing, but she is still a second class citizen. Cyborgs are seen a lesser than humans and are used for researching a cure for the plague that has wreaked havoc on the Earth. Cinder hates her life with her step-mother, Adri. Iko and her step-sister Peony are her only friends and even those friendships are at risk of Adri's tyranny. When Prince Kai, the son of the Emperor of the Eastern Commonwealth, has trouble with his beloved android, he brings it to Cinder with a story of childhood attachment and a joke of "national security." Despite the joke, Cinder thinks there's more to the importance of this old robot. In hopes of impressing the Prince, she starts work. But soon her sister Peony is diagnosed with the plague and Cinder is blamed. In her anger Adri "volunteers" Cinder for research, which no one has survived. Once at the research facility, the doctor quickly realizes Cinder is incredibly special.

As for a retelling of Cinderella, I would say this one is decent enough. There was nothing done exceptionally well, but it was interesting. If I had not known the correlation, I think I would have enjoy the book much much more. It seemed to me that Cinder was her own "fairy godmother," which was equally refreshing and annoying. I've always liked the fairy godmother in other versions. (It could be said Iko was the "fairy godmother," but I don't feel a strong enough argument to believe it.) I felt like the emphasis on the fact that this is a retelling took a lot away and left me waiting for certain things to happen that did not or were not easily recognizable. I wish I'd never known that aspect of the story.

But I did enjoy the book despite the problems I had with it. I really liked Iko and the doctor at the research lab. Iko was such a fun character throughout the book and I loved loving her. The doctor was also interesting, even if predictable. I liked him a lot and liked the role he played in the story.  As for the obvious unique quality to this book, the cyborg/futuristic world, it was interesting. I liked the challenges and new things it provided for the story.

I thought the writing was really good, but, for me, the plot fell a little flat and short of the original. (Grim Brothers left big shoes to fill!) I would recommend this book to those who like sci-fi or fairy tale retellings. It a wonderfully written, neat not-so-little book and I don't think many people who find the idea of it interesting will be disappointed. I certainly do intend to read the next books in the series.

Have you read Cinder? What did you think of it? How do you think it did as far as being a retelling?

The Espressologist: A Book Review

Honestly, when I picked up this book my hopes were not overly high. One reviewer I have come to generally trust, Claire, gave this book a good 4 "star" rating in her review. Not long after reading Claire's review, I saw the book displayed in my local library and decided to snatch it up. After Claire's review, I knew the book was out of my normal style, but the review made it sound like something that would be worth picking up. I was not disappointed, but I was not overly impressed either.

This book is certainly a Young Adult, feminine book. I think it's a cute, fluffy read, but it certainly doesn't make you think or invoke much participation on the readers part. It's a neat story for an afternoon or weekend Summer read.

Jane Turner has been working at Weird Joe's coffee shop for several months now. As she served drinks and observed people, she began to see a pattern: She could tell what kind of person someone was by what drink they ordered. As she became more interested in this phenomenon, she started to keep notes on what kind of person drank each drink, and surprisingly, she was spot on every time. Finally more confident in her informal study, she began matchmaking friends and frequent customers based on their drink orders. Each time the couples were ecstatic. When word gets out, more and more people want to be matched by the "Espressologist." With all her matches, Jane was happy to see she'd help couples find happiness, but what about her happiness? What about her match?

I really enjoyed this book for the style. Matchmaking is not generally a genre I'd venture into, but I thought it sounded good for a quick summer read. I was certainly right. This is a great book for a quick summer read, but don't expect it to be well researched, perfectly written, or surprising. I'd say I have very few complaints about this book. I think Ms. Kristina Springer wrote an interesting new take on the YA romance scene. Wonderful debut novel.

But with all the good I have to say, one major thing brought the entire rating down. The Ending. I felt that the book ended suddenly, as if Springer simply tired of her story or her characters and wrote a quick easy ending without thinking it entirely through. I also felt that the ending was extremely unrealistic. Not so much in what ended, but in how Jane and other characters acted in the end. I understand this is fiction, but it's a realistic fiction about teenagers with teen drama that suddenly drops. I was very disappointed. Before I reached the final few chapters, I thought this book would be a 4 duck book, but the ending got me. There were also problems with the writing and phrasing, especially one character's use of British slang (incorrectly, might I add).

Over all, I thought it was a decent summer read and good for something light and frilly, or should I say frothy. If you're looking for something a bit romantic, very light, and very quick, you should think about checking this one out.

Princess Academy: A Book Review

“No wolf falters before the bite
So strike.”
–Shannon Hale
“Look no farther than your hand
Make a choice and take a stand.”
–Shannon Hale

This is a sweet book about a young girl faced with a new environment bent on changing her. It’s a good book, but not really exciting. There are a few scenes when you worry for the girls’ safety, but mostly it’s about the girls at school. I personally was able to put it down and walk away no problem. I certainly didn’t want to abandon it, but I wasn’t dying to see how it would end either.
Miri is a young girl who doesn’t feel she quite fits in her mountain village home. Down in the Lowlands is a prince ready to marry, and the Priests will declare where she is to come from. The entire kingdom, and the province itself, we’re surprised to hear Mount Eskel would produce the next princess. With this announcement, an academy is set up, per the King’s orders, and all girls age 8-16 are forced to attend. Learning to read, write, curtsy, and survive. When trouble comes to Mount Eskel’s academy, only Miri, the outcast, can save them all.
Shannon Hale has won a Newbery Honor award for this novel. It’s a good relaxed reading. I suggest it if you like strange but not overly active or exciting novels. I think it’s a good summer read for under a tree.