Tag: 3 1/2 Stars Page 35 of 43

Tooth and Nail by Ian Rankin

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On April 19, 2017

In Fiction, Ian Rankin, John Rebus, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Tooth and Nail Tooth and Nail

by Ian Rankin
Series: John Rebus, #3

Paperback, 293 pg.
St. Martin’s Paperbacks, 1996 (first published 1992)

Read: April 14 – 15, 2017

She drives home the knife.

The moment, she knows from past experience, is a very intimate one. Her hand is gripped around the knife’s
cool handle and the thrust takes the blade into the throat up to the hilt until her hand meets the throat itself. Flesh upon flesh. Jacket first, or woollen jersey, cotton shirt or T-shirt, then flesh. Now rent. The knife is writhing, like an animal sniffing. Warm blood covering hilt and hand. (The other hand covers the mouth, stifling screams.) The moment is complete. A meeting. Touching. The body is hot, gaping, warm with blood. Seething inside, as insides become outsides. Boiling. The moment is coming to an end all too soon.

And still she feels hungry. It isn’t right, isn’t usual but she does. She removes some of the clothing; in fact, removes quite a lot of it, removes more, perhaps, than is necessary. And she does what she must do, the knife squirming again. She keeps her eyes screwed tightly shut. She does not like this part. She has never liked this part, not then, not now. But especially not then.

Clearly, this is someone who needs to be stopped. And The Powers That Be have brought John Rebus from Edinburgh to London to help the hunt for the Wolfman (yeah, those who tagged the killer with that moniker may have made some assumptions). Thanks to the events in Knots & Crosses, many (who don’t know all the details) believe that Rebus is somewhat of an expert in Serial Killers. He knows he’s not, but no one asked him — he was just told to show up. It’s not long before this case gets under Rebus’ skin and he’s no longer in London to kill a couple of days as a show of support for the local police, but he’s off to catch a killer.

George Flight is the detective who’s serving as Rebus’ contact — and is leading the investigation. Rebus notes that he’s a better policeman than he is — meticulous, detailed, going through things step by step. Which isn’t doing him a lot of good at the moment, he needs something more. Enter Rebus. By and large, Flight’s the only one that wants Rebus’ help — his superior, another detective on the case, and the press liaison are pretty united in their lack of interest in bringing in someone from “Jockland” to meddle in the crimes of the big city.

As Rebus arrives in London, another body is discovered, so he shows up at the crime scene with his luggage, from there, they head to an autopsy — rushed, no doubt given the likelihood that this is another Wolfman victim. The autopsy scene — the sights, sounds and smells — is one of the best (possibly the best) that I’ve seen along these lines. It felt real, it felt disgusting, it felt sad. Between this and the opening paragraphs (quoted above), I’m again reminded that Rankin knows what he’s doing when it comes to writing. He nails this stuff.

While he’s in town, Rebus visits his ex-wife and daughter — things go poorly there, as one would expect. Things go worse when his daughter’s boyfriend comes around. When Rebus is able to connect said boyfriend to a career criminal . . .

I’m no expert on this, but I’ve read more than a few serial killer novels, it strikes me that 1992 was still pretty early in serial killer fiction-terms, and it shows. Both in Rebus’ attempts to draw the killer out, as well as Flight’s attempts to catch him. We also get to see both detectives trying to understand the serial killer — or at least how to apprehend one. Flight’s more old-school in his approach and is pretty disdainful of Rebus’ efforts to get inside the head of a serial killer. Which is not to say that this particular killer isn’t destructive, sick and really creepy.

Rebus is spurred on to this track because of who he is — but the attractive psychologist, Lisa Frazer, who wants to help him out certainly doesn’t hurt. It could be argued by some (including some characters in the book) that Rebus is far more interested in pursuing her than the Wolfman.

Rebus mostly stumbles around, indulging his infatuation with Frazer, looking for his daughter’s boyfriend, and occasionally chatting with Flight about the case. Now eventually, enough things happened that allow Rebus to put things together and figure out the identity of the Wolfman (sorta like when Wilson made a stray comment to Dr. House that got him to make the right diagnosis). Sure, it was clever, but hard to believe.

Early on, I thought this might be the book that turned me into a Rankin fan, not just some guy reading these. It came close, but I just couldn’t totally buy the ending and the way Rebus solved the case. But man, Rankin can write. I’m not totally sold on what he’s writing, but I’m really enjoying the craft. I was hooked throughout, but that ending just didn’t work.

—–

3.5 Stars

2017 Library Love Challenge

Black Fall by D. J. Bodden

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On April 17, 2017

In Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

Honestly? I really wasn’t that interested in this book — Bodden followed me on Twitter, and I followed back — I saw that he had a link to NetGalley for this book, so I clicked and checked it out. It seemed like a perfectly nice book and one that probably had an interesting take on teenaged vampires, but I really wasn’t in the mood for that, so I closed the window. Or so I remember it. The next day, I got an email saying that I’d been approved for the book. Not wanting my NetGalley percentage to take a hit, I threw it on to the Kindle and made room on the schedule. So, let the fact that I wasn’t all that interested in this book in the first place put a certain spin on what I’m going to say here.
—

Black FallBlack Fall

by D. J. Bodden
Series: The Black Year, #1

eARC, 294 pg.
2015

Read: April 12 – 13, 2017


Jonas Black is a typical sixteen year-old, with a very driven girlfriend (who’s pretty much mapped out the next few years of their lives), a decent home life, a couple of invested parents, and so on in NYC. Which makes him not that typical, I guess — but he’s the kind of kid people think of as “typical.” When we meet him, however, he’s reeling from the unexpected death of his father, and his mother doesn’t seem to be acting all that normal at the funeral.

Not long after that, strange things start happening to Jonas — he blacks out unexpectedly, his mother’s behavior gets even stranger, lastly he and his mother are attacked at home, and rescued by someone unlikely (leading to 2 very large men escorting him to school). He’s able to pin his mother down and she explains to him that she’s a vampire, as was his father — and he is, too. There was a problem with my download and so the conversation where his mother describes the experiment that made him into the vampire he is (born, not made) and whatnot. Thankfully, I don’t want to get into details anyway, because I’d probably get it wrong. I really appreciate that Jonas isn’t a Chosen One kind of character — more of an Engineered One. But even at that, I don’t think anyone planned on him tackling things that he did at this stage of his life (I’m semi-prepared to be proven wrong in future books).

So, while juggling school and his girlfriend, Jonas is basically enrolled in a self-defense course for vampires (there’s more to it than that, but . . . ) where he meets some other vampires and a reticent werewolf. He befriends/is befriended by a vampire, Eve, about the same age — but who knows what she’s doing — and wants to get to know the werewolf, Kieran. While I’m largely on the fence about the older vampires Jonas meets — I really like Eve. Kieran and the other werewolves are cool — and not just because I prefer lycanthropes to vamps. Before long the three of them — and a small army of others — find themselves in the middle of an effort to put a stop to a demon’s schemes.

Bodden’s vampires are pretty interesting — I like some of the tweaks he makes to the standard profile. Ditto for his werewolves. His entire supernatural taxonomy and how it relates to the world is pretty well-realized and elaborate. I was pretty impressed by it, and am curious about it as well. I’m not saying they’re drastically different (vampires don’t glow or anything), but Bodden’s vamps aren’t the same as Hunters’s, Butcher’s, Briggs’, etc.

A word of warning: There’s. Just. So. Much. Exposition. I get it, really — Jonas needed to be introduced to this world, and acclimatized really soon for his own safety. Which was mighty convenient, because it helped the reader learn about The Black Year’s take on vampires, werewolves, lichs (is that the proper plural form? lichen doesn’t seem right), specters, hunters, etc. On the whole, Bodden did a decent job blending character moments and infodumps, merging what we need to learn with keeping things moving. Still, it frequently felt like this was a guide to the supernatural world more than a novel — he might as well have named a couple of characters Ryan and Esposito.

I was engaged enough to keep going, but at a certain point, I’d just about given up hope of really enjoying the book, and just put my head down to plow though and get it over with so I could move on. I was surprised a little later to find out that I was invested in the fate of these characters, and was really getting a kick out of Bodden’s work. I can’t point to what it was that got me there, but it probably had something to do with Kieran. I do want to stress that it was after the 50% mark, so stick with it if your experience is like mine. By the time I was finished, I was ready for book #2 (…and probably 3….and most likely 4).

I will not say that this is the best thing since sliced bread, but it’s a fresh take on many UF staples from a YA point-of-view, with compelling characters, a well-built world, and a solid plot (especially when it gets around to moving).

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from the author via NetGalley in exchange for this post — I appreciate the read.

—–

3.5 Stars

The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag (Audiobook) by Alan Bradley, Jayne Entwistle

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On April 10, 2017

In Audiobook, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Reread Project

The Weed That Strings the Hangman's BagThe Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag

by Alan Bradley, Jayne Entwistle (Narrator)
Series: Flavia de Luce, #2

Unabridged Audiobook, 9 hrs., 49 min.
Random House Audio, 2010

Read: March 21 – 27, 2017

I think I’d have phrased things a bit differently, but in the interest of time, I’m just going to copy and paste from my thoughts when I read the book a couple of years ago and add in a bit for the audiobook:
The plucky young chemist with a nascent obsession with death is back in action. The case is a little less personal for Flavia de Luce this time, but that doesn’t stop her from jumping in whole hog to get to the bottom of it.

Flavia runs into a couple of traveling performers with some car trouble and before you know it, she’s got them some help–and a gig. While she hangs around the TV star and his assistant, she finds herself surrounded by some of her town’s darker history and then face to face with a murder. And Flavia being Flavia, she can’t resist sticking her nose in and making sure all the knots are untangled–particularly the ones adults are ignoring, despite them being painfully obvious to her.

We get less of Flavia’s sisters (and the rest of the household, come to think of it) in this installment–but when they’re around, their impact is greater. Clearly, as this series continues, there’s going to be some serious drama on the homefront with some major implications for the de Luce family, I hope Bradley tackles that quickly, the foreshadowing’s getting old quickly.

Unlike with so many other amateur sleuths (particularly juveniles), it’s nice to see that her reputation and track record are acknowledged by some in the community — which is both a help and a hindrance, I hope to see more of that in the future.

Entwistle really impressed me again with her narration. Not just the way she nails Flavia — both the good and the bad aspects of her personality. But her work on the rest of the characters — the TV star’s assistant in particular — really won me over, showing a little more range than we got to see, er, hear last time.

My only major quibble with this installment is that it takes far too long to set the main action of the novel up–in a 348 page mystery novel, you’d better get to the central crime before page 150 or so. Unless you’ve got a heroine like Flavia to focus on, I can’t imagine being patient enough to wait that long to get the ball rolling. Entwistle’s performance helps, but, man, it drags on awhile before Bradley’s done setting things up and gets things moving.

Another fun (occasionally hilarious) read, with a mystery satisfyingly twisty, with just enough red herrings to get you through it.

—–

3.5 Stars

The Castle of Llyr (Audiobook) by Lloyd Alexander, James Langton

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On April 10, 2017

In Audiobook, Chronicles of Prydain, Fiction, Reread Project, YA/MG/Children's Books

The Castle of LlyrThe Castle of Llyr

by Lloyd Alexander, James Langton (Narrator)
Series: Chronicles of Prydain, #3
Unabridged Audiobook, 4 hrs, 36 min.
Listening Library, 2004

Read: March 20, 2017


Taran is tasked with escorting Princess Eilonwy to the Isle of Mona, where she’ll be taken in by distant relatives — the king and queen, who will help her learn how to be a proper young lady (an idea she finds ridiculous). They sail there on a ship “captained” by the island’s Prince Rhun.

Once they reach the island, Taran runs into Fflewddur Fflam, who’s enjoying barding again — even if the castle’s steward, Magg, has an intense dislike of his music. Shortly after that, Taran discovers there’s a threat to Eilonwy in the castle and tries to save her from it without letting her know she’s in danger. That goes poorly and he joins the rescue effort instead (also led by Rhun — or at least Rhun thinks so).

The companions also meet the world’s littlest giant (why does that sound like it belongs more in The Phantom Tollbooth than here?) and a mountain cat that we’ll get to spend a lot of time with. There’s a lot of links to the first book as well as the last book in the series here.

The introduction by Alexander was great — I wish I could hear more of his own takes on the books. Langton was solid. Again, I think he could talk a little faster — but that’s minor. His Prince Rhun’s “Hullo”s are just what I’ve heard in my head all these decades.

This is probably the most entertaining of the lot — there’s some really good comedy here. Taran grows up a lot more here than he does in other books, I think, which adds something more than just entertainment to this book. It’s possible that this is the one in the series I read the most as a kid. The story isn’t as rich as I remember, but factoring in the growth in characters and the entertainment factor, the experience as a whole was pretty satisfying — and I’ll take that.

—–

3.5 Stars

The Doll (Audiobook) by Taylor Stevens, Hilary Huber

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On March 8, 2017

In Audiobook, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

This post was supposed to go up this morning, but I thought of a point or two I wanted to add. So during my morning break, I pulled it up on my app and the post vanished. Well, not the whole post — the tags, categories, and headline stuck around — but the actual content vanished. Thankfully, I don’t compose in WordPress, so I didn’t lose that much, just some minor tweaks. But still — any one else ever have this trouble with their app?
—

The Doll (Audiobook) The Doll (Audiobook)

by Taylor Stevens, Hillary Huber (Narrator)
Series: Vanessa Michael Munroe, #3

Unabridged Audiobook, 13 hrs., 47 min.
Random House Audio, 2013
Read: February 17 – 24, 2016


The novel starts with Miles Bradford witnessing Vanessa Michael Munroe being kidnapped — and in a most impressive way. He mobilizes he members of his private security team in town and begin looking for her — and Logan — immediately. Miles assumes (correctly) that if the object was to hurt Michael, he and Logan would be the top candidates to join here. If she’s being kidnapped to do a job, Logan would be the ideal candidate for a hostage — as long as someone has him, Michael will do whatever it takes to keep him alive. Ergo, since he knows Michael’s out of the country, but he’s not sure where, the best thing he can do is to free Logan from whoever took him, eliminating the leverage they have over Michael.

Meanwhile, Michael wakes up somewhere in Europe where she’s presented with this simple choice: do a job for this man she recognizes as The Dollmaker — or he’ll have Logan killed (and he threatens to do similar things to others Michael cares about). The job is to deliver a young woman into a life of sex slavery and torture. This particular young woman is a rising movie star who’s gone missing — the surrounding publicity makes her one of the best known faces in the wold. She needs transported over a few European borders without being seen or injured in any way. Doing this will repay a debt to The Dollmaker that Michael incurred in a previous case.

Just typing that makes it sound like Michael’s a monster for even considering delivering Neeva — and she certainly thinks so — but in the context, Michael can’t seem to do anything better (although she does hope that Logan will be rescued, giving her the opportunity to save Neeva). Michael also knows that no matter what happens, she and Logan are dead as soon as the girl is delivered (barring a successful rescue). Most of the book is a compelling race against the clock, followed by Michael’s hunt for revenge.

This is the first time that we really get to see Bradford’s operation outside of just him — I’d enjoy a novel or two about he and his team without Michael, I must say. The best parts of this book involve Miles and his team doing their thing.

Huber did a great job, as per usual — I honestly can’t think of anything to say about her work that I haven’t said before. Neeva frequently sounded like Anna Faris to me — which helped solidify the character. There is one thing that I’ve meant to say since the last book and forgot about until this instance — there’s a playfulness that creeps into Huber’s voice as Michael prepares to do something violent. I love that little touch. It says so much about the character (and I hope Stevens agrees with what it says) — it also speaks volumes about Huber’s attention to nuance.

A gripping tale — with some of my favorite moments in the series — even if I found some character choices hard to believe/stomach. With plenty of callbacks to earlier books to cement this in Michael’s story. Still, another good entry for Stevens, Huber and Munroe.

—–

3.5 Stars

Night School by Lee Child

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On January 10, 2017

In Fiction, Jack Reacher, Lee Child, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Night SchoolNight School

by Lee Child
Series: Jack Reacher, #21

Hardcover, 369 pg.
Delacorte Press, 2016

Read: January 5, 2016

One of the strengths of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series is the way it bounces around in time — sometimes it’s Reacher’s post-military life, sometimes it’s while he’s serving, sometimes you get a couple of books in a row that are clearly tied together, sometimes it’s impossible to tell what chronological relationship a book has to the rest. The central character is what matters — is Reacher essentially the man we met in Killing Floor? As long as the answer is, “yes,” the rest of the details don’t matter that much.

So, following a successful classified mission, Major Jack Reacher is assigned to a training school. Which is just a flimsy cover for an inter-agency task force with Reacher, a FBI agent and a CIA analyst. The Intelligence and Defense world is trying to adjust to a post-Cold War reality, looking towards Middle East threats, rather than the Warsaw Pact. An undercover operative has indicated that something very big is on the verge of happening — no one is certain what, where, or when — but they know that a lot of money is exchanging hands to lead to it.

The White House’s directive is simple: find out what’s afoot and stop it. Whatever it takes.

Since this is Army-era Reacher, first thing he needs is Sgt. Frances Neagley, who continues to be just about as smart, possibly tougher, and more resourceful than Reacher. The CIA analyst and FBI agent are involved, but it doesn’t take long for Reacher to go his own way (with Neagley half a step behind). The other direction makes sense, but this is a Jack Reacher novel, so you know he’s right.

It’s a race against time and unknown calamity in a tense and taut thriller — just what Reacher fans want and expect. Not perfect, but a heckuva ride.

The thing that ties everything together for Reacher, allowing him to figure out what how the target pulled off what he pulled off was both entirely plausible and entirely hard to swallow. I have a hard time believing that no one before Reacher (or the target) figured it out before them. Even in the moment, with momentum driving the plot forward at top speed, I had to roll my eyes at it.

Despite the presence of Sgt. Neagley, Army-era Reacher books don’t work as well for me. He’s far better as a nomad, answerable to no one (save the occasional employer), not under any orders or required to follow certain regulations. Yes, given the setup for this one, he is able to disregard Army SOP, but only so much.

I liked it, but didn’t love it. I had a lot of fun, and was engaged throughout. But it was a little bit of a let-down after Make Me. A mediocre Reacher is still better than so many books — and this was both mediocre and better — I’m glad I read this, and can’t imagine how anyone who likes a suspense/thriller novel wouldn’t. Still, Child is capable of more, and I hope he delivers that next time.

—–

3.5 Stars

2017 Library Love Challenge

Rise the Dark by Michael Koryta

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On January 5, 2017

In Fiction, K-O, Michael Koryta, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Rise the Dark
Rise the Dark

by Michael Koryta
Series: Mark Novak, #2

Hardcover, 400 pg.
Little, Brown and Company, 2016
Read: September 13 – 14, 2016

“If you gave Charles Mason the mind of Nikola Tesla,” she said, “you would find yourself with Eli Pate. Or so he thinks.”

I’m really kind of annoyed that Eli Pate was described this way, because I’d pretty much came up with that comparison a page or two earlier, and thought it’d be a clever thing to say.

But first . . .

Markus Novak is continuing the hunt for his wife’s killer — and he’s starting to make progress, real progress for the first time. Far more than anyone else has in years. Markus’ prime suspect has just been released from prison, so the detective now has full access to him. I think it’s safe to say that the methods he uses aren’t endorsed by anyone. Not only that, but he’s utilizing sources that there’s no way he would’ve trusted before his experiences in the cave in the last book. Still, there’s no way he’s prepared for where the investigation takes him.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Sabrina Garland is kidnapped in an effort to force her husband to do the unthinkable. The way these men come together — with plenty of ghosts from Markus’ past, results in a taught, tense thrill ride. To say more about the plot would be to ruin the thing, if you ask me, so we’ll just leave it here.

I really don’t like most of the plot devices used here — in any of the interweaving storylines. At least, I typically don’t like them — but Koryta pulled them all off. I bought them in the moment, and will still defend Koryta’s use of them (even if I feel like a hypocrite as I’ve thought about the book over the last couple of months or even as I write this). I wish I could be more specific here, but I just can’t.

The one exception to my plot problems is everything relating to Markus’ uncle.

Where plotwise this infuriated me (while entertaining me, I need to stress), on the character front, I really enjoyed this. Most of the criminals involved were interesting and well-drawn. Markus, his new allies and his uncle were so well done. I really liked where Markus went emotionally and psychologically here. Kortya has created a great character here, and I hope we see more of him.

I’m not going to rate this one as highly as I did the previous novel, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think people should read this. Everything that has Koryta’s name on it should be given a chance. In almost anyone else’s hands, this novel wouldn’t work and you’d see me trying to complain about it without giving things away. But Koryta pulled it all off, it works and leaves you wanting to return to this world.

—–

3.5 Stars

Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple

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On January 4, 2017

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

Today Will Be DifferentToday Will Be Different

by Maria Semple

Hardcover, 255 pg.
Little, Brown and Company, 2016

Read: December 2 – 3, 2016


It is 100% completely unfair to compare this book with Semple’s previous novel, Where’d You Go, Bernadette — but, man — it’s hard not to. The protagonists, their lifestyles, their problems, their families, their children’s schools, their problems, what got them to Seattle and the career’s they left behind — they all beg comparison. But I’m going to try not to — and it’ll be to Today‘s benefit if I can pull that off.

Here’s the problem with the book — well, the main one — it’s there in the title, Today. It takes place over a day, no real change, no real resolution, no real anything can happen in a day. You can resolve to make changes, you can take steps towards anything happening. But real lasting whatever takes time. Not that you can’t have a good novel in that time frame, but not this kind of novel.

The pluses? The storyline about Eleanor’s sister — there were so many ways this could’ve gone wrong, become cliché, or turned into a mere punchline. It’s uncomfortable, it’s troubling, and it’s real. Eleanor’s kid, Timby was interesting and I enjoyed his relationship with her ex-colleague. Most of all, it’s the voice. Eleanor’s voice is strong, it’s developed, it’s clear, and there’s a confidence to her (while realizing she’s a giant mess).

But that ending? I could write pages about how bad it was.

In the end, while reading Today Will be Different, I had a blast and was hooked throughout — it was funny, tragic, thoughtful, painful. But the instant that I closed the book, all I could think of was how many things I didn’t like and problems I had with the story. It’s not just because Eleanor’s story was different from Bernadette’s — I was relieved, by that — but that this one didn’t deliver what it could have.

—–

3.5 Stars

Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham

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On December 14, 2016

In (Auto)Biography, Humor

Talking as Fast as I CanTalking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between

by Lauren Graham
Hardcover, 205 pg.
Ballantine Books, 2016

Read: December 12 – 31, 2016

This book isn’t a proper autobiography or anything (doesn’t claim to be, either); it’s stories, memories, thoughts and humorous bits that Lauren Graham shares about her life and career.  She uses the revival of Gilmore Girls as an excuse to look back on her both to this point, as her career is marked by looking back this year. I haven’t seen the new Gilmore episodes (still working my way through the series with my kids), so I could’ve read the material discussing that a little closer — although I did think the tributes to Edward Herrmann fitting and touching.

The book covers pretty much what you’d expect from an actor’s memoirs — discussion of her childhood, paying her acting dues, education, her big break and so on. All told with wit and charm. Graham’s personality shines forth and really draws you in. She spends a good amount of time talking about the original run of Gilmore Girls, Parenthood, and her novel. I was glad to see that she did that — so many actors/celebrities don’t give that much time or space to the things that made someone want to read their books in the first place.

A few of the highlights of this book are from the parts that aren’t de rigueur. There’s a section on eating and health tips, that made me laugh out loud — Graham learned the same lesson Jim Gaffigan and Weird Al did — food jokes work 99.6% of the time. There’s some really good writing advice that Graham was given by a friend that helped her to finish this book — and seems like the kind of thing that could help many authors. There’s some recurring jokes about Ellen DeGeneres and the cast of Today. I don’t want to suggest those are all the highlights, but they’re are good sample. 

Most of the book feels like Graham set her phone to “Voice to Text” and cut loose. But there’s no way that it would’ve come out as good if that’s what she did — that kind of feel is the result of a lot of hard work and planning. It all paid off, this was one of the more enjoyable books to read that I’ve tackled recently — don’t get me wrong, the content was good, too — but the writing was as smooth as silk. Unlike that sentence. Between this and her novel, it’s clear that Graham’s really quite a writer, I hope to see more from her.

This was a fast, breezy read — a lot of fun with plenty of heart. Pretty much everything you want from/would expect from Graham. A sure fan pleaser.

—–

3.5 Stars

Bear with Bear by Hagit R. Oron, Galia Armeland

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On December 5, 2016

In Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

Bear with BearBear with Bear

by Hagit R. Oron, Galia Armeland (Illustrator)
PDF (but you can buy the Kindle Edition), 31 pg.
Orons, 2016

Read: November 30, 2016


Hagit Oron has branched off from her adventures with Elphie to come up with something for slightly older readers. This is the story of Bear, a young man in search of a pet. He has a few hurdles — his parents (his mother in particular), his sister’s qualms about several representatives of the animal kingdom, and reality (he doesn’t ask for a Hippopotamus for Christmas or anything that outlandish, but it wouldn’t have surprised me). I really liked the siblings relationship as depicted here — it felt real, it felt relatable.

I’m not sure that I buy the 6-9 age range for this story — but I’m not an expert, 5-7 would be my guess. But whatever, target ages like that are best used (and/or ignored) by those who know the kid best.

The thing that will appeal most to older readers is that if you click an icon in the lower corner of the page, it’ll take you to another page that gives you some insight into the factual basis behind the part of the story you just read — or showing just how fictional it was. Oron drew from her own family’s pet hunt for inspiration and she details how she went about taking that inspiration and turning it into the story. It’s an added touch that I think could really help a lot of younger readers. Now, my review copy didn’t have that function, so I can’t tell you how well it worked — I assume it’s pretty straightforward in operation — but I did get to read those pages, and appreciated what Oron was trying to accomplish with them.

Armeland’s art pops off the page. It’s simple and attractive, but it feels like there’s something wrong with calling it “simple” — I don’t mean it as an insult, it’s the first word that comes to mind. But there’s a lot of subtle things going on with the illustrations, too — so it’s not simplistic. Ugh, I clearly shouldn’t talk about art — I liked it, I thought it fit the story, and it didn’t feel like the art in kids’ books that I’ve seen a million times before.

It was a nice story, told in a good way that should appeal to younger readers — with a nice twist that’ll capture the imagination of many. Maybe even inspire some young writers out there, now that they’ve seen how their lives can be the basis of fiction. I continue to be a Oron fan, probably more of one now than before.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the author in exchange for my honest take, and I thank her for it.

—–

3.5 Stars

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