Review: Ark - Stephen Baxter

Rating: 2
Husband: Didn't Read
Got it: Second Hand Bookstore
Price: $3.50
Finished it: last month


Synopsys:
Hundreds will live, six billion will die.

Our world ended in 2052, the year the last great flood finally overwhelmed the lands.

A desperate bid for survival began in America, in the years before the end. The project which could be our final act could also be an impossible dream: creating a starship to take a few hundred survivors on an epic journey to a new world.

As the waters rise, as savage wars are fought over the remaining high ground, the work goes on. Those who will live, of the billions who will die, are chosen. Families are torn apart and the resources of our drowning world are marshalled for one last gamble.

Ark is the story of three women, Grace, Venus and Holle, and their part in humanity's struggle to reach a new home. For the few survivors, the day of the launch will be only the beginning of the nightmare

Review:

I was sadly disappointed in this book. I really like the idea, but I had to force myself to read this one. It really should be rated a 1, but I pushed hard to get through because there were some pretty interesting concepts that could have been fully flushed out. Sadly, not many of them did.

The end of the world is here, water is creeping up inch by inch and there is only going to be a few ways that people can survive. This book focuses on the people/children that get sent up into space to re-populate a new planet and carry on the human race.

I don't know where to really begin, but every awesome idea that peeked my interest, was never fully explored. I found the lack of discipline by the chosen/trained survivors to be annoying. WHO would train their whole life to become the first idiot jerk in space and knowingly FUBAR the mission when your lives totally depend on it, not to mention the entire human race? Forget all the science and calculations on how long to get there, resources on ship for the number of people etc.

Also, if we could make faster than light space travel that could sustain life in a vacuum for 45 years, then I think maybe they could have made a floating city that would have been able to manage to keep people on earth alive a little better then a "giant submarine with only 100 people on it".

Anyway, there are enough thought provoking ideas in the book that it’s going to get a 2, but really it should be a 1. I skimmed many a chapter. I cursed at many a chapter. If you like space exploration, coupled with extreme human drama, the second half of this book is for you. If you like post apocalyptic human drama as resources become more and more scarce, then the first half of this book is for you.

Review: Living with the Dead, Year One - Joshua Guess

Rating: 4
Husband: Loved it
Got it: Kindle
Price: $5.99
Finished it: last month

Synopsys:
(Comprised of Book I and Book II already available on Kindle) Living With the Dead - Year One is a serialized story of everyday life at the beginning of and during the zombie apocalypse. Its original format was and is an almost daily blog.

Told in the author's own voice, LWtD is the story of a group of survivors in central Kentucky, working to stay alive amid the violence and chaos of a crumbling civilization. Faced with threats and challenges that tax their endurance and force them to make terrible choices, the story follows the survivors day to day.

From the viewpoint of one man and his friends, the answer to the question of what people will become when the rules no longer apply begins to emerge. For some, it is violent conflict.

For others who only want to live in peace, this is a journey toward understanding that in a world of the dead, the only choice is to truly live.

Review:
This was awesome.  The "book" is done blog style, including typos and all - as the author Joshua Guess explains - to make it seem more real. 

This is also a real time blog, (http://www.livingwiththedead.net/) that you can follow daily as well, so, should you be a dedicated blog reader, you really don't have to buy anything. You can just got and start at post 1 on the blog and go on through. However, I liked the story, I want to support self pub'ed as much as possible, and I LOVE zombie stuff, so we bought it.

I really enjoyed the time lapse, the urgency, and the how the characters adapted and changed through the different circumstances they were challenged with.  I do enjoy reading blogs, and this fit in well with that.  It was snapshots, sometimes cliff-hangers, sometimes long and rambling, but all in all, well thought out for what could possibly happen should there be a zombie outbreak and the world as we know it go bye-bye, and there is still the interwebs to write about it.

I really enjoyed the description of the zombie mutation, I liked the twists that it held later on. It kept it more fresh in terms of out-thinking "mindless" zombies.   There were the occational times where I was brought out of the story by some continuity stuff, and a few times I didn't think that the activity matched the time stamp (farming times, etc), but all in all a wonderful entertaining and great peek into the lives of surivors.

If you like blogs and zombies (and who doesn't.... do you hate bacon too?), the give this book a shot.

Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Laini Taylor

Rating: 5
Husband: like it
Got it: Nook
Price: $7.99
Finished: late 2011

Synopsys:

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

Review:

This was a recommendation from a friend, and since we typically like what each other is reading, I downloaded it on the nook last winter. I was not disappointed!!!!

This was an excellent YA urban fantasy. I couldn't put it down! The romance was well done.  The action was excellent.  The Husband liked it and tolerated the romance with ease (because the story was so great).

 

I loved the main character, her development and discovery through the book was first class. The supporting characters were fascinating and I honestly wanted there to be pictures.  The other "world" was enticing, well thought out and had such great texture and background.  I loved that the antagonists were flawed zealots, but not evil. Both sides fight for what they believe is right. That made for great energy in the book, it was a serious page turner.

 

If you have not read this book and you like YA urban fantasy you must get it!  Well work the full price nook download.

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Review: King of Crags - Stephen Deas

Rating: 2.5
Husband: Reading it
Got it: Second hand bookstore
Price: $7.99
Finished: Recently

Synopsys:
Now, as the Realms teeter on the brink of war, the fate of humanity rests in the survival of one majestic white dragon.

Prince Jehal has had his way-now his lover Zafir sits atop the Realms with hundreds of dragons and their riders at her beck and call. But Jehal's plots are far from over, for he isn't content to sit back and watch Zafir command the earth and sky. He wants that glory for himself- no matter who he must sacrifice to get it. The one thing Jehal fears is that the white dragon still lives-and if that is so, then blood will flow, on all sides...

Review:
Well, this one just didn't 'grab me by hair' like the first book did, The Adamantine Palace.  (My review here).  However, this is a trilogy, so I'm really hoping that last book moves back towards "GOOD GREIF this is awesome" like the first book.  If it ends like the Eragon series (poorly), I'm going to be a sad and disappointed reader.

Onwards.  I found this book particularly hard to get into. I had to force myself to pick it up at night, and then spent my time wishing that it would get electrifying.  The dragon bits were good and they kept me reading. The magic bits were okay, but the whole experience was dampened by the massive amount of politics. 

Not that I don't like a good twisting political drama. I just don't feel that is what is given.  Its kind of...bland.  More princes, lords, and ladies all trying to poison, push and sleep their way to the top....but for what?  There doesn't seem to be a top goal here, there is no real "one ring to lead them all".  I was left thinking why are you bothering? You all have kingdoms, you all have dragons, you all have money, you all have food, and people to work for you. Whats the big deal?  Pride?  What is at stake here?

I just didn't get pulled in, which is why I might be more disappointed in this book then I should be. I was looking for the magic I felt in The Adamantine Palace, and I didn't get it.  If you have ready the first, then I would suggest reading the second, and I hope that book three leaves me more satisfied then this.

Once again, I waited on the second hand bookstore for this big hardback.  In this case, I'm VERY glad that I waited. I would have been pretty bitter to get this story for full price.

Review: The Adamantine Palace - Stephen Deas

Rating: 4
Husband: Liked it
Got it: Retail bookstore
Price: $8.95
Finished: late 2011

Synopsys:
The power of the Realms depends on its dragons. With their terrifying natures tempered by a mysterious liquid, they are ridden by the aristocracy and bred for hunting and war. But as dangerous political maneuverings threaten the empire, a single dragon has gone missing. And even one dragon-returned to its full intelligence and fury-could spell disaster for the Realms...



Review:
I really liked this book! Stephen Deas dragons were a dangerous mix of Anne McCaffrey's intelligent Dragons of Pern and the man eater/hater from the movie Dragonslayer.  Color me totally sold on these dragons! I just couldn't get enough of the dragons and the magic used to enslave them.

The political drama was not much to my liking, there was a little too much and a little too contrived. It just didn't hold my interest, which was sad because the opening had a lot of promise with an excellent bit of backstory!   I would have liked tighter writing on the political manoeuvrings, and more about the dragon culture that the characters/world is based on.

Husband thoroughly enjoyed it and we were looking forward to the second book.  Review coming next.

Review: Robopocalypse - by Daniel H. Wilson (PhD)

Rating: 5
Husband: Loved it
Where I got it: Second Hand bookstore
Price: $6.99
Finished: Recently

Synopsys:

They are in your house. They are in your car. They are in the skies…Now they're coming for you. In the near future, at a moment no one will notice, all the dazzling technology that runs our world will unite and turn against us. Taking on the persona of a shy human boy, a childlike but massively powerful artificial intelligence known as Archos comes online and assumes control over the global network of machines that regulate everything from transportation to utilities, defense and communication. In the months leading up to this, sporadic glitches are noticed by a handful of unconnected humans – a single mother disconcerted by her daughter's menacing “smart” toys, a lonely Japanese bachelor who is victimized by his domestic robot companion, an isolated U.S. soldier who witnesses a 'pacification unit' go haywire – but most are unaware of the growing rebellion until it is too late. When the Robot War ignites -- at a moment known later as Zero Hour -- humankind will be both decimated and, possibly, for the first time in history, united. Robopocalypse is a brilliantly conceived action-filled epic, a terrifying story with heart-stopping implications for the real technology all around us…and an entertaining and engaging thriller unlike anything else written in years.

My Review:

A friend recommended this book to me, and I had been long looking at it on the shelves reading the back cover over and over, but the price put me off and I always put it back.   I finally found it at the local second hand bookstore for the excellent price of $6.99 and snapped it up!

First off, I'm sad that I waited this long. It was worth the cover price at the bookstore, and it would have been an excellent "airplane read" for me.  I couldn't put it down. I bought it on a Saturday afternoon and I finished it on Monday night at 1:30am.

It is very much in the style of World War Z (one of my favorite books ever!! <3 me some zombie), with shortish chapers focusing on individual stories.  However, these chapters really start to blend together as the individual charaters start to converge later in the book.

The Husband loved it, I loved it.  If you like dystopic/post apocolypse fiction - I say give it a read!