The Host by Stephanie Meyer is set in a world where humans are hosting parasitic aliens. The aliens are not mean or vicious quite to the contrary they view humans as an inferior race due to our violent tendencies. The human is usually erased once it has been inhabited by the alien, but in rare instances a strong personality who is aware of the possibility of being inhabited can survive the insertion (process of putting an alien in the brain of a human body) and co-exist with the alien. It is this scenario that allows the plot of The Host to unfold.
Melanie Stryder a rebellious human resisting the alien takeover of Earth is inserted with an alien life form known as Wanderer, who becomes Wanda through interaction with humans. Because Melanie and Wanda share Melanie's memories they both have strong ties to Melanie's loved ones and go off in search of Melanie's boyfriend and younger brother. They find a whole clan of human resisters with Melanie's brother, boyfriend, and uncle.
The story centers around Wanda trying to gain the acceptance of the humans as she deals with internal conflicts about her own morality. She and Melanie build a strong relationship as they cohabitate the same body, though in the beginning they hated each other. It's a beautiful story that ends beautifully. It's not another Twilight, which is what I was hoping for from Meyer. It got boring in places and I wondered why I was reading it; there is way too much description in places. About 100 pages from the end I didn't think that I was going to like this book, but when I got closer to the end I decided I really liked it and that the ending made up for some of the dull places in the middle. I would also have to say that her writing style really seems to improved between Twilight and The Host. The first "chagrin" was 142 pages in and it didn't appear on every page this time. It's a nice story with strong messages about tolerance and love. I guess I would give it a three star rating.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
The Iron King Book 17
The Iron King, Julie Kagawa's brilliant debut novel has a slow start but once it gets going it really gets going. And honestly, it took about 200 pages for it to become the kind of novel I like to read, but I think if my tastes were a bit different I probably wouldn't have even found the start slow. Her descriptions of the different characters main character, Megan Chase encounters on her quest to rescue her younger brother from his supernatural abductor are brillinatly creative. More than that it uses fey lore with an innovative twist. YA paranormalcy is genre of choice but after a while all the plots begin to look the same--not true of the Iron King. I'm looking forward to the sequel.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Need Book 16
Need is about a teen ager whose just lost her "father" (step-dad) and been sent to live with her grandmother only to learn her biological father is a stalking pixie out ot get her. This was Carrie Jones' debut novel and I have to say it's about what you would expect for a novice. It's not bad. There are some really good twists and turns and I think, some interesting takes on average paranormal lore.
That being said, the writing style bothered me. The whole book is present tense, which I know is becoming a trend, but it still bothered me. It wasn't just that the novel is written present tense, it's really "teeney" if that makes sense. I get that I'm an adult with an English degree who reads teen age fiction and for that reason some of my chosen few could seem overtly juvenile, but the truth is the good ones usually don't. The teen talk issues I had with Evermore, I have with Need, except that in Need it really isn't even teen talk. It's just overly simplistic.
All in all, it's not a waste of time. If you're into paranormal romances or just interested check it out. There is enough going on to keep your interest. When I put it down, I thought how can you love and hate something at the same time, because the story is really good, the writing style just bothered me. I'd give it a two or three star rating, but not more. It is the first novel in a series. I haven't decided if I'll readed the sequel. It'll probably depend on the density of my TBR list.
That being said, the writing style bothered me. The whole book is present tense, which I know is becoming a trend, but it still bothered me. It wasn't just that the novel is written present tense, it's really "teeney" if that makes sense. I get that I'm an adult with an English degree who reads teen age fiction and for that reason some of my chosen few could seem overtly juvenile, but the truth is the good ones usually don't. The teen talk issues I had with Evermore, I have with Need, except that in Need it really isn't even teen talk. It's just overly simplistic.
All in all, it's not a waste of time. If you're into paranormal romances or just interested check it out. There is enough going on to keep your interest. When I put it down, I thought how can you love and hate something at the same time, because the story is really good, the writing style just bothered me. I'd give it a two or three star rating, but not more. It is the first novel in a series. I haven't decided if I'll readed the sequel. It'll probably depend on the density of my TBR list.
Fallen Book 15
Lauren Kate's Fallen makes a nice addition to the YA supernatural romance genre. It was slow in the beginning, but well developed with well rounded characters. I enjoyed it. It was similar to Hush-Hush, but the title actually related to the book, the characters were more realistic and I liked that the author put more thought itno the mysticism behind the supernatural characters rather than just mentioning it.
In honesty, I bought this book on the recommendation of a book club. I thought it would be just another piece of commercial junk, but it was a worthwhile read. I had no idea what the paranormal element might be, but I figured it out fairly early on. (The title is a big hint, duh). But what I really enjoyed about it was all the good versus evil. At the risk of a plot spoiler, the hero is a fallen angel and the last fallen angel book I read was good, but at the end I was lost as to the point. I felt that I had read a good story and it mattered for absolutely nothing because it was rather themeless. I didn't have that frustration at the end of Fallen, which is going to be a trilogy and I'm looking forward to Torment arriving this fall. Because while I hate it when authors make series out of something that really doesn't need to be a series, there are some plenty of questions left unanswered for a sequel in this case.
I recommend this book ;).
In honesty, I bought this book on the recommendation of a book club. I thought it would be just another piece of commercial junk, but it was a worthwhile read. I had no idea what the paranormal element might be, but I figured it out fairly early on. (The title is a big hint, duh). But what I really enjoyed about it was all the good versus evil. At the risk of a plot spoiler, the hero is a fallen angel and the last fallen angel book I read was good, but at the end I was lost as to the point. I felt that I had read a good story and it mattered for absolutely nothing because it was rather themeless. I didn't have that frustration at the end of Fallen, which is going to be a trilogy and I'm looking forward to Torment arriving this fall. Because while I hate it when authors make series out of something that really doesn't need to be a series, there are some plenty of questions left unanswered for a sequel in this case.
I recommend this book ;).
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Lament Book 14
What happens to cloverhands who can't control the fey? It appears that Deirdre Monaghan is about to find out firsthand. Or will she?
In Stiefvater's brilliant tale Lament, Deirdre, a high school girl/ musical prodigy finds out she has some extraordinary gifts other than music and struggles to accept this, not to mention deals with the consequences such "gifts" bare. She is helped along the way by Luke Dillon. Luke has a past out of his control that he struggles to overcome as he helps Deirdre accept what her gift does or does not mean.
The plot is exciting and the characters well developed. It's a story of first love, finding yourself and overcoming hardships. It was also Stiefvater's debut novel. It reads extremely well for a debut novel, but to a person who has previously read Shiver, I think it's obvious that it's a debut work. While the story is more than intriguing and the reader is compelled to go on, the poetic prose of subsequent works doesn't thrive here. It's still a good read, just not what I expected from the author of Shiver!
In Stiefvater's brilliant tale Lament, Deirdre, a high school girl/ musical prodigy finds out she has some extraordinary gifts other than music and struggles to accept this, not to mention deals with the consequences such "gifts" bare. She is helped along the way by Luke Dillon. Luke has a past out of his control that he struggles to overcome as he helps Deirdre accept what her gift does or does not mean.
The plot is exciting and the characters well developed. It's a story of first love, finding yourself and overcoming hardships. It was also Stiefvater's debut novel. It reads extremely well for a debut novel, but to a person who has previously read Shiver, I think it's obvious that it's a debut work. While the story is more than intriguing and the reader is compelled to go on, the poetic prose of subsequent works doesn't thrive here. It's still a good read, just not what I expected from the author of Shiver!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Random Ranting: Frustrated
I am so unbelievably frustrated today. I've made all the edits to Redemption more than once now and no matter how many times I save these changes continue not to save! Aaarg! This day job really cuts into my writing time and the situation feels hopeless. I've never even had a short story published which I'm told means querry letters will be a fruitless nightmare. Still, I keep trying.
--Doomed to despair.
--Doomed to despair.
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