Book Reviews
Guest Review: “Prisoners Under Glass” by R. Patrick
Young readers who love big, bold action, boisterous high jinks and bizarre images, all mixed up with a bunch of people prone to snappy dialog learning to rely on each other in life-and-death situations, will get a kick out of Prisoners Under Glass.
Review: “City of Ember” by Jeanne DuPrau
Have you ever read a book that is SO good, that you can’t wait to read the next one? That’s this book. It’s the best book I have read so far! The City of Ember is far underground. Which I thought, wow this be really cool to read about.
Review: “Gone” by Michael Grant
Grant has successfully written himself a real suspense-filled saga about a group of small city kids placed in extraordinary circumstances and dealing with problems that would cause any well-seasoned and trained adult to go crazy.
Review: “Discount Armageddon” by Seanan McGuire
The world is a fairly orderly place, talking mice, gorgons, Chupacabra… these are things of fairy tales, mythology and supermarket tabloids. Not so in Seanan McGuire’s new novel Discount Armageddon, the first book in her new “InCryptid” series.
Review: “No Dominion” by Charlie Huston
The book is marvelously written and very heavy on dialogue and vivid, yet dark, descriptions. Twists and turns abound, unfolding the story at a steady pace. It is also written as a first-person, present tense story, a style that I usually find jarring and unbelievable.
Review: “Red Glove” by Holly Black
Red Glove is promoted as a YA novel, although I’d put it more at the 18 year old to adult end of the spectrum than the 13-16 year old range. If your kids are old enough to watch the “Sopranos” or “The Riches” and they like those shows, then this is the right book. Much like those shows, Red Glove contrasts the supposed glamour of a criminal lifestyle with the pain it causes our hero. A younger reader might only see the glamour and magic and miss the misery.
Review: “The Goddess Test” by Aimée Carter
What I didn’t expect was to be reaching for a tissue in the first twenty pages. Ms. Carter nicely sidesteps the whole unequal romance trope by placing the emotional center of the novel in the relationship between our heroine Kate and her mother Diana. Kate’s frantic grief over her mother’s looming death drives the plot and gives more weight to the story than a YA romance would normally command.
Review: “Gaudeamus” by John Barnes
When John Barnes gets a visit from his old buddy and private detective Travis Bismark, he knows two things for sure: Travis needs a ride, and he’ll get at least one new science fiction book out of it.
