Confessions of a Book Addict

Review: Evan Burl and the Falling

Evan Burl and the Falling by Justin Blaney
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of this (revised) book in exchange for an honest review.

The last time I read this book, I gave it four stars. It didn't feel complete, but I still really enjoyed it. This time around, it is deserving of the five-star rank.

Evan Burl and the Falling is about a boy named Evan who discovers that he's doomed to become a monster. He lives with his uncle who he finds is charged with destroying him. He also lives with a group of girls he calls The Fallings, because they all fell from the sky as babies in boxes, completely unharmed. They appear to be immortal at first, as nothing can truly harm them and their wounds heal very quickly. But as he and they soon find out, they are not immortal at all. And something is causing them to die one by one.

Evan decides he must leave to protect them, but only after he finds out what is causing them to die. Is it him? Is it his uncle? What is happening to these girls he sees as his own sisters? And what is his future? Can he choose not to be a monster?

It's difficult to describe exactly what made me love this book so much. The writing style was great, very fluid and mostly easy to read. I felt so badly for Evan and his struggles with trying to control the sapience. I enjoyed the story immensely, and wanted to keep reading and reading and reading. It was a wonderful piece of fantasy, and only fantasy, which is so rare to see these days (unless you're looking for epic fantasy, of which there is plenty - but this is just simple fantasy).

****THERE ARE SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT****

Evan Burl and the
Following via Goodreads

Another free download for you all today! I've been given permission by Justin Blaney to share his book Evan Burl and the Falling with you all for a limited time. He doesn't know how long it will be available for free, so download your copy today. And if you really enjoy it, please buy a copy!

Evan Burl and the Falling is about a boy named Evan who discovers that he's doomed to become a monster. He lives with his uncle who he finds is charged with destroying him. He also lives with a group of girls he calls The Fallings, because they all fell from the sky as babies in boxes, completely unharmed. They appear to be immortal at first, as nothing can truly harm them and their wounds heal very quickly. But as he and they soon find out, they are not immortal at all. And something is causing them to die one by one.

Evan decides he must leave to protect them, but only after he finds out what is causing them to die. Is it him? Is it his uncle? What is happening to these girls he sees as his own sisters? And what is his future? Can he choose not to be a monster?

I have read an older version of this book and really enjoyed it. I'm reading the current version now and loving it so much more. Justin has done extensive work to the story and expanded it so much that it now feels like a full novel instead of a novella.

If you would like to download a copy of the book, you can find the link here. If you would like to purchase a copy, you can do so on that site, or on Amazon. If you do download it, Justin requests that you leave an honest review somewhere (Goodreads, Amazon, etc.), so please leave a review when you're finished.

Please comment if you download, and let me know what you think!

Review: Pearls in the Ashes

Pearls in the Ashes by Shelagh Meagher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fantastic foray into the history of the persecution of Buddhists and the rise of Communism in Mongolia from the 1930s until the 1990s. Pearls in the Ashes was not on my to-read list, but for some reason I downloaded it anyway. This book was so beautifully written, simple in style and plot but so rich and complex with details. Dash, the main character, is not always likable and not always pitiable. But when he finally gets the chance to redeem himself, I felt powerfully exactly who he was meant to be.

It's a quick read, even though it's a couple hundred pages long (the e-book edition I read was 138 but the description says it's more than 200). The flow is easy and the terminology is also relatively easy to understand. There is a glossary at the back in case you forget what something means.

Beautifully written, and I recommend it to anyone interested in Buddhism, Mongolian history, religious persecution, and stories of hope.

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Review: Eden at the Edge of Midnight

Eden at the Edge of Midnight by John Kerry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Eden at the Edge of Midnight is an adventure story about a teen girl named Sammy who desperately wants to be noticed, and her inadvertent foray into the former garden of Eden, now called Perseopia. When a mysterious old woman asks her to hold onto a bracelet she claims is magic, Sammy thinks she's weird but doesn't believe her. At first.

When Sammy is transported to Perseopia, she meets with danger almost at every turn. But a chance encounter with a dinosaur-like creature named Louis and the man who lives in a house on his back, Mehrak, seems to be her only hope. Can Sammy make it back home to what Mehrak keeps calling the Mother World? Or will she be stuck in Perseopia forever? And is she really the chosen one that the old woman spoke of? Or just another teenager?

I had a great time reading this book, not only for the story but for Sammy's personality. She reminds me so much of myself, and she's completely geeky for science fiction and movies and video games. The pop culture references spattered throughout the book were welcome reminders that there is another world to which Sammy belongs, and that she is a normal teenager who just happens to mean something to someone.

Mehrak's age is never made clear, nor is Hami's, the mage who inserts himself into the journey. But they must have been close enough in age to Sammy for her to be "interested" in both of them. It's never really clear just how much she feels for them, although that kiss at the end (I'm not saying with whom ;)) was pretty nifty. Mehrak is married, but his wife was taken by crabmen and he's on the hunt for her. Hami is convinced Sammy is the chosen child, but his plotting takes so many twists and turns it's always hard to tell whether he truly cares for her or just wants to use her to achieve his own ends.

The end of the book sets it up nicely for book 2, and I wonder what role Sammy will play in the next installment. It looks like the magi are in danger and maybe Sammy will be able to help.

Highly recommended for people who love humor and suspense, with a teen heroine who isn't annoying (for once), and is as big a geek as we fantasy readers tend to be ;)

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Free E-Book: Scapemaker

Hello my faithful readers! This month, I have a gift for you. Well, it's not from me, but rather from the author. Steve Cypert, the author of Scapemaker, is offering electronic copies of his book for free through the month of March. Exciting, no? All he asks for in return is an honest review.

I'm excited to share this with you, because I like to be a resource. If you hear of an author doing the same, please let me know! I will be reading and reviewing this book later this month, for anyone who's curious.

In the meantime, feel free to download a copy of Scapemaker at this link. You will need to create a Smashwords account if you don't have one already, but no worries, it's free. Add the book to your cart, and once in the cart, you can enter the code ZS95Z, then hit "update." This will make the book free, and then you can go to the download page and get it in pretty much whatever format you want.

The synopsis is below the jump:

Reached by Ally Condie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reached is the culmination of the Matched trilogy, quite a fitting end although not altogether satisfying. I'm giving it 4 stars out of 5, simply because it was quite the trilogy and well-written, an enjoyable read and something I'm glad I read even if I didn't truly appreciate the final book.

The book itself focuses mainly on the Rising infiltrating the Society with a plague that was created by the Society in the first place. Only, things don't go quite as the Rising had planned, and things start falling apart very quickly.

The pacing of the book was awkward, as weeks and months would pass with only a small note such as "We had been here for two months" or "The still had been under for three weeks," etc. Jumping around in time was obviously necessary, as it would take time to get the cure and the plague under control. However, by having a lot take place in a small amount of time, and then skipping a few weeks or months and having more take place, well, it got a little confusing. I feel like the entirety of the book happened in the span of a couple of weeks, when it really took what I believe may have been close to six months or more.

I thought Xander's voice had changed from the last book to this one. He seems hopelessly bent on Cassia, but also blindly following the Rising and the Pilot with no question. His belief is total and is near unbreakable, until he finds another Pilot to follow, at which point it's like he never believed in the real Pilot at all. He is blind to a lot that is going on around him, faith without question, and trust without thought. It bothered me that someone who was so bent on fixing things would follow so completely.

Something I really appreciated was the lack of sex and sexual themes. This book was an adventure and a love story, and it didn't need the characters constantly groping each other and getting it on to make the story happen.

**Spoilers Ahead**

Review: Away

This is a sequel, so if you have not read The Line, go read that first!

Away by Teri Hall
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It can be difficult to review book 2 of 3 because there's still so much left unsaid from book 1. I'm most irritated with the end of Away because it skipped so much time, things happened way too quickly, the climax came in the last few pages (which is not the way to end a book, even if it's to be continued), and there's still another book to come.

I think Teri Hall has grown into the format and story, there was more character development (albeit only slightly), but it seems there was less of a real plot this time and more of people traveling to accomplish something.

I'm hoping the final installment will be better (and longer) than this one, as I don't want to have to finish it and go "What the heck?"

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Just a little fangirling going on...

Please pardon me for a moment, as this is nowhere near professional of me...

Hero by Alethea Kontis

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat.

I was so excited that Enchanted was a stand-alone, and now it has a sequel? And a third book? WTH?

Not that this is bad news, in fact I loved Enchanted and wanted to read more of Kontis' work, but I admit the fact that it's become a series is a bit disappointing. At least it's the story of another of the sisters, and not a continuation of the last book.

ANYWAY... YAY I GET TO READ MORE KONTIS SOON!

BOO IT'S NOT COMING OUT UNTIL OCTOBER!

YAY I LOVE THIS COVER!

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Review: Smoke And Mirrors

Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This collection of short stories by one of the most talented writers of today is surprising and haunting, and will leave you thinking "What if this were real?"

I really enjoyed the different types of stories in this collection, as some were about vampires, some about odd happenings, some were straight-up fantasy or science fiction, and one was about an angel who no longer has wings.

The component I liked the most about the book was the introduction by Neil Gaiman himself. In it, he explains the ideas behind each of the stories, or where the stories started out, or where they ended up. The book is also interspersed with poems that tell quick, creepy and intriguing tales.

There were a few stories I didn't enjoy, and most of them are definitely adult (one is practically porn but I didn't mind it), so don't let your pre-teens get hold of it. But if you like a dose of weird and creep, and a dash of Cthulu, or even if you've just never experienced the mind of Gaiman, this is a must-read.

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This Week's Haul

A few weeks ago I won a gift card to Amazon from On The Edge, which I promptly spent on books! One of the books I ordered ended up not being shipped, I guess the person didn't have it or something. But I did get four others: The Swan Kingdom by Zoe Marriott, The Girl who Fell From the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow, The Bards of Bone Plain by Patricia A. McKillip, and The Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Shaw. Lots of fantasy and YA to go around, there :)

I also got an e-mail from BooksFreeSwap letting me know that a book I wanted was available. I've already read it (and written about it here and here but I didn't own a copy. So finally, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is mine! And in hardcover, no less!

Lots of links, I know, but this is a pretty big book haul. Very exciting! Looks like I have a lot of reading to do this year. I also picked up a copy of Away by Teri Hall, the sequel to The Line, from the library this week. I'm waiting on a few more books too, sequels to other books I've enjoyed (and I think one I didn't, but I figured why not).

Exciting News!

Photo courtesy of Amazon.com

Neil Gaiman, quite a brilliant story-teller, and someone I'm currently reading, has a new book coming out! He announced it a few months ago, which made me a bit antsy, but then I got on to other things and promptly forgot all about it. I am a bad reader.

BUT! This week he announced that the book is coming out in June in the US, which makes me happy. What makes me even happier is that his local bookstore in Cambridge (only two hours from me! Stalker time?) has them available for pre-order. But not just any pre-order, he's signing them! Unfortunately not in person, but hey, they'll be signed!

Of course this means the book must be mine, complete with signature, as it would be the only signed Gaiman I own. Also, now that I know he's in Cambridge, I can keep an eye out for readings and such. I'd gladly sacrifice the four-hour round trip and the gas money to see him in person. Who would get that kind of fan-devotion from you? How far have you traveled just to attend a reading?

If you're interested and want to get your own copy, you can pre-order right here from Porter Square Books.

In other news, I have five books coming to me in the mail! Pictures and info coming soon!

Review: The Line

The Line by Teri Hall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While not the best dystopian fiction around, The Line certainly had an interesting story to offer. As other reviewers have mentioned, it is plot-driven rather than character-driven. We are made to understand early on that Rachel is a good girl, her mother is always sad, and her mother's employer, on whose land they live, doesn't like to be bothered. I had really no information on the hired hand who helped around The Property, as they call it, other than that he was old and looked after Rachel when she was young.

The plot moved forward pretty steadily, although it took too long, in my opinion, to get to the good part. I'm also left wondering what other secrets Rachel's mother could be holding back, and why, all of a sudden, Ms. Moore became so friendly with the mother and daughter. Based on her previous character, I half expected her to clam up and try to either fix things on her own or throw them off The Property.

The book reads very easily, although Rachel's brain wanders a bit. Hall tends to have the characters go off on inner thought tangents, which can be detrimental to the flow of the story. I didn't enjoy that, but I didn't mind it so much as I would have in a different sort of book. What worked in the 19th century doesn't quite work now.

I agree with another reviewer who said it felt more like the first half of one book rather than the beginning book in a series. I think that, considering it was only 200-odd pages, a lot more could have been done with it to turn it into a complete story rather than a mini-novel that the publisher is trying to squeeze money out of.

I will probably check out book 2, but I hope it is a lot more fulfilling than this one. I rather enjoyed the read, but do acknowledge it could have been better.

All that said, I gave it a rating of 4 stars because I did really enjoy it, I finished it quickly and actually want to read the second book, and the writing style was pretty good. Recommended for people who like YA dystopian fiction, although don't expect The Hunger Games out of it.

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First Books of the New Year

Reached by Ally Condie and Insurgent by Veronica Roth

I love MyPoints. I love it so much because, when I save up enough points, I get gift cards for books. Books that are free to me are wonderful books!

It's amazing, then, that I received my latest MyPoints gift card in December and only today cashed it in. I guess I was waiting for the right sale, or the right book, but whatever the reason, today I used it up and got two books I've been waiting for for a while. I'm excited to start them!

My husband Chris is a member of some music message boards, and on one of them they post their music purchases. I thought that would be a fun experiment for the blog, so now I present you with my first book purchase of the year.

Reached is the final book in the Matched trilogy by Ally Condie. I really enjoyed the first two books and still haven't decided which guy I think is right for Cassia. Maybe they'll end up in a threesome! Haha. That would be an ... interesting conclusion. *cough* In all seriousness, though, I am very excited to start this. I'm trying to finish another couple of books right now, but as soon as they're done (two are library books) I'll be starting Reached.

Insurgent is book two out of three in the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth. The first book, Divergent, received a lot of mixed reviews and I can understand why. Tris is a bit whiny, her relationship with Four is just a bit too fated/cheesy/overdone, and the story line was a bit predictable. But in all, I really got wrapped up in the war and what was going to happen to all these kids, who were being forced to fight without knowing what they were doing. What were they going to do when they realized they had killed their friends, their families? I can't wait to get deeper into the plot and see where everything is going.

This year is going to be a great reading year, I can just tell.

2012: A Retrospective (Of Sorts)

Another year gone, another lump of books read. To be quite honest, I'm not disappointed in myself at all for failing to reach my 75 book goal. In looking at my list of books read this year, I am quite proud of the genres, lengths and authors I've tackled this year and I am feeling very accomplished at a total of 51 completed books for the year. Of course, I can't count the two unpublished manuscripts I read, nor can I count the book I am working on proofing (I am getting it chapter by chapter, so I haven't finished reading it yet as it's not yet done). But if you do count those in my totals I'm up to 54, which is admirable in itself.

Anyway, enough patting myself on the back. And don't mind me as I take a short stroll through some of my most memorable reads of the year.

(There are captions underneath the photos - I don't know how to change the color of the text so just hover for the captions and the links. You'll be able to see them that way if you're interested!)

The Zona, by Nathan L. Yocum
Photo from Goodreads.com

The Zona - Nathan L. Yocum
Date started: 2/14/2012
Date finished: 2/17/2012

This book was more of a novella, as it was only 115 pages. I didn't particularly click with this one, didn't enjoy the read as much as I had hoped, but it was an interesting book that has stuck with me since I read it. It's certainly an interesting topic for thought: Preachers as killers, tasked with sending their marks to their death or to Purgatory. The thing that has stuck with me the most, though, was how the reader gets to see three different points of view on what happened to Vegas, a brutal massacre on the part of the Church in order to purge sin from the world. A recommended read, even if you don't consider yourself a religious person.

The Infinite Kingdoms by Michael Rutherford
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this book directly from the author, to read and review if I liked it. Which I did. So here goes.

The Infinite Kingdoms is really three semi-short stories, not related by any characters but simply by the fact that they all take place in the same world. Perhaps they take place simultaneously, perhaps in different ages. It's impossible to tell, and truly, it doesn't much matter.

The first tale, The Tale and its Master, sets up the Kingdoms nicely, as it explains about the Guild that makes up much of the Kingdoms' culture. The Guild's full name is The Guild of Seers, Speakers, Dreamers, Storytellers, and Non-Fanatical Prophets. A baby, Remus, is born to a Storyteller, and grows up to discover that he has more talent in his pinkie than the entire Guild does in all of its members combined. At least, that's how he sees it.

Remus scorns all those around him, knowing he has powers they don't, and when it comes time to go off on his quest for his own story, he leaves thinking it will be easy. It isn't. He meets a witch on his quest who gives him her story in exchange for...well, you'll find out. He must thank her three times before each telling of the story in order to keep it under control. All of his dreams are about to be fulfilled, and he returns home triumphant. And cocky. What he doesn't realize is that his hubris could be his downfall.

The second tale, Wager of Dreams, Trundle is on the point of having to give up his dream-reading for a job as a scribe for the local lord. People just aren't dreaming anymore, and if they are, they are dreaming of objects, things, possessions. They aren't afraid of nightmares, and don't need their dreams interpreted anymore.

Trundle returns home to find his family subdued and a bunch of monsters in his house. They make him an offer he literally can't refuse - as long as he wants his family to live - and he is forced to accept. He must travel around the Infinite Kingdoms and spread the stuff of nightmares and dreams to all the people, so that demons of the night do not disappear completely.

He begins his journey by instilling fear of a plague, and the demons who are "house-sitting" until he gets home are pleased. As he travels around the Kingdoms, he continues to spread fear and nightmares. But each night he still instills hope within people, that the nightmare will end, that something good can happen.

As he nears the end of his journey, he comes to a kingdom that wants none of his dreams and nightmares and foolishness. They set out to murder him, but the demons have other plans in mind...

The final tale, Knights of Darkness, Knights of Light, tells the story of Ragnack, a mercenary who we meet as he is running away from knights who are after him for killing their prince. He was supposed to be fighting alongside this prince, but he had gotten lippy, and it was an accident! Ragnack meets with a demon-knight who has come out of the darkness to raise souls for his people to feed on. The demon-knight has been disguised as a human in order to deceive as many people as possible. As Ragnack saves this demon-knight, Apollyon, from falling off a cliff, he touches the skin of the demon and Apollyon is revealed in his true form. They share blood, and are linked forever as brothers. After sharing a night in a valley, they go their separate ways.

While Apollyon raises a bloodthirsty hoarde of barbarians, Ragnock searches for a place to lend his skills. He comes upon a kingdom in need of a protector, and agrees to work for King Melchior as his captain of the army. In truth, he runs the kingdom and gets the soldiers in fighting shape. Little does he know the battle that he will be forced to wage once Apollyon's forces are at their peak.

This collection is highly reminiscent of Jack Vance, one of the proclaimed kings of science fiction. Not in content, but in style, does Rutherford seem to pay homage to one of the literary greats of our time. Granted, I'm not a huge Jack Vance fan and still haven't finished reading his Tales of a Dying Earth series, but I will admit his writing style is certainly unique. Rutherford has a touch of that in his style - folklore and storytelling, reading as such but still having some air of modernity to it.

I enjoyed the "lessons" of each of the tales, and appreciated how they fit into the values of our world today. Going as far back as 1986, the tales in this collection are eerily familiar to today's reader. It's easy to connect to their themes and ideas, and take something away with you.

This book is hard to find online, as it was really only published independently by Owlswick Press in Philadelphia. But I do have contact information for the author, so if you do want to read it send me a message. I will pass it along to him for you.

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