Book Lovers' Memes (Set 15)

 

2020 Reading Year Summary

It was a pretty good reading year, with no DNFs or 1-star books.

Stats:

Total New Books: 94

Total Including Rereads: 104

Average Rating: 3.8

Pages Read: 36,283

Audiobooks: 30

Ebooks: 12

Science Fiction and Fantasy: 50

Nonfiction: 20

Longest Book: Gone with the Wind (1,037 pages)

Runners-up: The Way of Kings (1,007), The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn (784)

Favorite Books:

I absolutely adored these books:

Home Before Dark (Riley Sager)

Woven (Bree Moore)

The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn (Tyler Whitesides)

The Wendy (Erin Michelle Sky and Steven Brown)

Honorable Mentions:

These were awesome, too:

The Devil Aspect (Craig Russell)

Age of Empyre (Michael J. Sullivan)

Starsight (Brandon Sanderson)

The Goblin Emperor (Katherine Addison)

Active Memory (Dan Wells)

Re-Reads:

I re-read some favorites, including The Way of Kings (Brandon Sanderson), The Amulet of Samarkand (Jonathan Stroud), and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (J. K. Rowling).

Top Nonfiction:

United States of Socialism: Who’s Behind It. Why It’s Evil. How to Stop It. (Dinesh D’Souza)

False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet (Bjørn Lomborg)

The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 (Garrett M. Graff)

Best Indie/Small Press Books:

Strangers (Michaelbrent Collings)

Woven (Bree Moore)

The Wendy (Erin Michelle Sky and Steven Brown)

Author Friends:

Some of my writing group friends have books out, and I made an effort to read more of them this year. These are the ones I got to, and they’re good:

Shatter (Nikki Trionfo)

Blood Creek Witch (Jay Barnson)

Crystal King (John Olsen)

Stonebearer’s Betrayal (Jodi Milner)

Series Progress:

I also tried to focus on sequels and was able to finish these series:

Beyonders (Brandon Mull)

Mirador (Dan Wells)

Magnus Chase (Rick Riordan)

Harry Dresden (Jim Butcher)

The Others (Anne Bishop)

Themis Files (Sylvain Neuvel)

I made small progress in these series:

Heroes of Olympus (Rick Riordan)

Discworld (Terry Pratchett)

The Queen’s Thief (Megan Whalen Turner)

The Guide and the Sword (Jared Garrett)

Chaos Walking (Patrick Ness)

Old Man’s War (John Scalzi)

Books I Edited:

These are books I did various kinds of editing for:

Age of Empyre by Michael J. Sullivan (beta read, gamma read/proofread)

Fly With Me by Julie Hahn (content, copy edit)

The Perfect Outcast by Melissa Ott Hansen (content, copy edit)

In the Wake of Captain Lord: A Tony Flaner Mystery by Johnny Worthen (copy edit)

Tips and Tricks for ADHD Writers by Robin Glassey (copy edit)

Spooked by a Suspicion by Risa Nyman (content, copy edit)

Nolyn by Michael J. Sullivan (beta read)

Least Favorite Books:

These were two-star books that I read for challenges:

Pompeii (Robert Harris)

A Graveyard for Lunatics: Another Tale of Two Cities (Ray Bradbury)

A-Z Challenge:

Going by author last names, I got all the alphabet except I, J, Q, R, U, V, W and Z. If I’m allowed to count first names as well, then I was only missing Q, U, and X. Authors with M last names topped the list at 19 books. S authors were close behind with 18.

Review: Impossible Times trilogy

 Impossible Times trilogy by Mark Lawrence

☆☆☆☆☆

Science Fiction

These books are about time travel plus Dungeons and Dragons. It doesn’t get nerdier than that. The three short books are fast-paced and jam-packed.

#1. One Word Kill

I was intrigued right from the beginning all through to the end. It was a thoroughly enjoyable adventure. I was hoping for more at the end, but then I found out there will be a sequel.

The book is set in Britain and written with British punctuation and spelling with a little American style. It’s an odd combination. Some occasional strong language.

#2 Limited Wish

Nick is at Cambridge University at 16 and finds the laws of physics are kind of quirky around him. For instance, he keeps rolling 1s in D&D.

He still has to invent time travel and fight cancer, though. Okay, it’s pretty nerdy.

The D&D scenes were very interesting; that’s skilled writing to accomplish that. I loved how it paralleled real life. The ending was really exciting. All aspects of the story were just great: characters, setting, pacing, plot. The story was so immersive. (The descriptions of Nick feeling sick were so visceral; it reminded me of all the times I was throwing up in public from a migraine attack.)

It was so good: funny, suspenseful, heartbreaking; perfect pacing and great storytelling. I seriously don’t have anything to criticize.

Mother had very new-fangled ideas about nutrition and refused to buy me Golden Nuggets, on the grounds that they were 96 per cent sugar. Which, oddly, was my main argument in favour of them. Instead she bought joyless boxes of Shredded Wheat, the contents of which I conducted mechanical stress tests on by loading them with as much sugar as they could bear. “Do leave some milk in the bottle, dear!” Mother admonished as I attempted to drown the evidence.

There is an unwritten rule of tube travel, understood instinctively by every Londoner from young schoolboy to doddering ancient. You pretend it’s not happening. You pretend that half a dozen strangers are not squeezing against you to a degree that is usually reserved for orgies. You pretend that your nose is not inches from the unwashed armpit of a beefy man, that a young woman’s hair is not tickling your face, that you did not step on that person’s foot. 

#3 Dispel Illusion

This final book covers several time periods. First, Nick and the gang are in 1992, when time travel is getting under way as a feasible technology. In 2011, Nick seems himself turn into Demus and has to face the fate waiting for him in 1986. And then ... Read and find out. There is a lot of suspense and humor and surprises and a cool D&D game. Really, this series is just about perfect.

I also love how time travel works in the series. In most stories, you vanish from one time and show up in another. But I’ve always believed that you wouldn’t just disappear from space when traveling through time. We naturally travel through time and space as it is. We have more control over our movement through space. So if you could have more control over moving through time, you’d have less control over movement through space but never disappear from either. Lawrence has had this same thought, and I really appreciate it.

I wanted that back. I wanted those days back. And even though I was standing in them, letting them flow by me hour after hour, I knew that could never happen. We get one shot. However you play it out. Fast forward it, rewind, it’s still the same: a single shot.

The universe doesn’t care about time. We care about time. Because we remember.

Review: Lux by Brandon Sanderson & Steven Bohls

☆☆☆

Science Fiction — Science Fantasy — Urban Fantasy

This has Sanderson’s fingerprints on it but not his soul. The original Reckoners series is far superior. This book has some really good moments and others that are just off.

The story takes place in Texas. Lux is a floating city in the sky (because why not) that used to be Sugarland. Four Epics run it: Lifeforce, Languish, Stormcloud, and Wingflair. Lifeforce makes everybody there immortal, Wingflair keeps in floating, Stormcloud makes the atmosphere livable, and Languish can only dampen others’ powers. A small group of Reckoners is determined to take them down. But compared to a lot of other cities, Lux really isn’t THAT bad of a place.

I wasn’t crazy about most of the characters. They didn’t feel fully developed. They were more tropes than people, and if any of them died, I wouldn’t or didn’t care. It switches from first person with Jax to third person with other characters, including Epics. Languish was probably the most interesting to me.

So far this is available only on Audible. The narrator is pretty good except when doing women’s voices. He makes their voices super nasally, and I swear Paige’s voice changes half-way through. This is a result of trying too hard to represent the opposite gender. Dude, just talk.

The pacing is kind of all over the place. Some scenes are very drawn out; others are rushed. We spend so much time at the beginning with Jax’s childhood training that by the time he was ready to confront Epics, it felt like the book was about to be over. There are some serious clichés in here, too, like the fridging of Jax’s brother.

I was confused on a few things. I wasn’t sure why Lux had to be in the air. I guess to keep moving so they could pillage everywhere on the ground? It seemed like a lot of effort for a small reward. And when the city still floats even any Epics using powers. In the original series, it was stated that Epics could only be killed by their personal weaknesses, but here they’re saying if you can blow them up, that’s just as good.

I had a lot of issues with the science. It was wrong so often! I’ll accept mumbo jumbo for sci fi stuff, but basic science has to be right. I mean, this is stuff that is common knowledge. Here are three things that irked me: (These are minor spoilers.)

1. Objects fall at the same rate (barring air friction): In the book, the city falls a few feet, so all the objects also fall. In the book, the heavier, bottom objects fall faster than the lighter objects on top of them. This is wrong. I tried it at home just to be sure. (See here for the math behind it.)

2. You have to draw blood from a vein: In the book, characters just stick a syringe anywhere in the skin and suck blood like magic. No tourniquet, no special needles, nothing. You might suck up a drop of blood this way, but it won’t be good for anything.

3. Computer tech is very specialized: In the book, we have the All-Knowing Hacker/Tech Dude. He is good at everything to do with computers. No area is beyond his knowledge. This is impossible and completely unrealistic. It’s like expecting a concert violinist to also be an expert in all the other instruments, or a star football player to also be a star baseball, basketball, and hockey player.

Book Lovers' Memes (Set 14)

 

Review: Strangers

Strangers by Michaelbrent Collings

☆☆☆☆
Horror

This is a someone-in-your-house-is-going-to-kill-you horror. The prologue is police finding a house (with bodies and a single insane survivor) after our crazy psychotic villain has finished with them. 

The main story focuses on the villain’s next target. For some reason my brain could not figure out the link between the two; I re-read the beginning several times before the blatantly obvious explanation found me.

The villain targets families with secrets. First he messes with them psychologically, then pressures them to confess or be killed. It’s all very creative and quite creepy and sometimes gruesome. 

It’s incredibly suspenseful, and the chapters are very short, so it’s very easy to keep going (“One more chapter … “one more chapter” … ) and stay up all night reading. The problem is I cannot do this without getting a massive migraine. As it was, I spent the whole weekend with migraines because I stayed up too late anyway. (And I know Michaelbrent gets killer migraines.)

A must if you enjoy horror or suspense.

For a version of the review with gifs, check here.

Language: Some occasional uses of s---

Sexual Content: General description of a striptease

Violence: Plenty, some of it gruesome

Review: Local Woman Missing

 

Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica

☆☆☆☆

Fiction — Mystery

A woman goes missing. Several weeks later, another woman goes missing, along with her 6-year-old daughter. They lived only a few miles from the first woman. Eleven years later, the daughter shows up, having escaped a childhood in captivity.

WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED? This question kept me up late every single night for the last week or so.

I was so focused on what happened that I didn’t even bother trying to figure out who. The pool of suspects is quite small if limited to just the characters you know well.

There are several main POVs: 

– Meredith, the missing mother, starting about six weeks before her disappearance (ultimately reaching that fateful day at the climax).

– Kate, a neighbor, who joins the search for Meredith and her daughter (Delilah) when she’s first noticed missing.

– Leo, Delilah’s brother, in the present. This is mostly second person as he addresses Delilah and tries to understand her with her psychological scars.

The narrative is so tantalizing as it gets closer and closer to explaining everything. But on the way it’s a story about people and what motivates them and how they deal with mistakes and make choices. It was very hard to put down. I did not guess the ending at all.

I wish there were more details on what Delilah went through. And I was really mad at Meredith for neglecting Leo for a job she didn’t really need.

I assume the text will go through a final proofing before publication. It had some weird formatting in my copy.

I received a free copy from NetGalley. It was the weirdest thing: They emailed me out of the blue and offered me the book. I wasn’t even a NetGalley member. I don’t know how they found me or why I was chosen. I was suspicious at first.

*   *   *

Language: Some moderate language

Sexual Content: Mostly implied; off-screen

Violence: Moderate amount of violence but not very graphic

Harm to Animals: None

Harm to Children: Kidnapping and abuse that is kept vague; bullying.

Other (Triggers): Drunken driving; a woman feels violated after a pap smear.

Review: Sister Sleuths

 

Sister Sleuths: Female Detectives in Britain by Nell Darby

☆☆☆☆

Nonfiction — History, Women’s History

This is a history of woman private investigators, primarily in England. There is not a lot of information out there, so this author painstakingly went through decades of census records and newspaper archives to piece together biographies of some of these women.

The book ended at 70 percent; the rest was all sources and notes!

In the 1880s, England passed a divorce act, which opened the door to not only become more independent but to support themselves as private investigators, known then as lady enquiry agents.

Any fan of history, women’s history, or British history should be fascinated with this. The writing has a very pleasing style with a focus on accuracy and staying disinterested. I just wish there was more information about individual cases out there.

I received an ARC from NetGalley.

Book Lovers' Memes (set 13)

Review: The Silent Patient

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

☆☆☆
Fiction — Drama

Alicia, an artist, adores her husband but then inexplicably shoots him five times and then never says another word. Theo, a psychotherapist, is obsessed with her case and manages to become her therapist at her mental hospital.



To be honest, I was pretty bored for the first half. It wasn’t thrilling or suspenseful; just drama laced with Deep Thoughts. I found Alicia’s diary more interesting than Theo’s life. I don’t care about art (my kids all surpassed my drawing ability around the age of 4) or other people’s marriages.

Then it got a little more interesting as I developed a bunch of wild theories, most involving split personalities. The surprise twist was one of those theories. So the ending is pretty exciting, but I wouldn’t call this a psychological thriller — just a psychological drama. I was pretty satisfied with the final ending. But is a book still a good book if it completely relies on a single gimmick to make it more interesting?



It is written well, though. I listened to the audio; I learned that Alicia is pronounced totally different in British English than American English.

Lots of strong language; some sexual content that is not too graphic; some violence.

Book Lovers' Memes (Set 12)

Book Lovers’ Memes (Set 11)

Review: Exit Strategy

Exit Strategy by Charlton Pettus

☆☆☆
Fiction — Thriller

This wasn’t bad but could have been a lot better. My biggest issue was the weak characters. Jordan and Stephanie Parrish are the two heroes of the story yet neither has a personality. They are incredibly generic and therefore impossible to connect with. I don’t know why they care about each other; I don’t get a sense of motivation from them.

The bad guys don’t have much personality, either. Our main villain engages in sexual and animal torture. I guess this is to show how bad he really is, but there’s no point to this behavior other than to compensate for a lack of personality. His motives are never explained.

The plot relies on the bad guys making some big mistakes and the good guys making just a few little ones. I get annoyed when either side is perfect, but it should be more balanced. I really enjoyed the chase/escape scenes.

There is a lot of jumping around. A scene will be a paragraph and then jump to another POV for another paragraph. (There are 88 chapters plus an epilogue and prologue in 406 pages.) Sometimes these are flashbacks, so at times I didn’t know who or when or where I was. And who the heck is Natalie??

Some plot threads didn’t seem to wrap up. What did the end mean, “folding”? Jordan and Stephanie were supposed to have a strained marriage at the beginning. Then they’re perfectly happy together. No talking it out? No counseling? I still have a few questions about Alex and Sam. Maybe I’m just dense.



The writing is fine but utilitarian — no thoughtful prose or literary qualities; just the straight facts. The writer also doesn’t know what bemused means. (Hint: not amused ) But I think any true thriller fan will enjoy this.

Content Warning:
Consistent strong language that just felt gratuitous
Explicit sexual content, including abuse and torture
Some gory medical details and graphic violence
Deliberate harm to animals

Book Lovers’ Memes (Set 10)

Review: Medusa Uploaded

Medusa Uploaded (The Medusa Cycle #1) by Emily Devenport

I haven’t read many generation-ship books yet, though I like the idea. This book has a lot of interesting ideas, and the writing is solid and shows real talent. But I think it could have used another revision.

I was confused a lot of the time. There are zero descriptions in this book. It’s as if the author was so afraid of info-dumping that she avoided exposition completely. I don’t know what the ship(s) looked like, what they were made of, how big they were, how big the hallways were, what color anything was. I still don’t get how the servants’ clothes worked. I can extrapolate a full visual image from just a little information, but I need that foundation. It’s like I was expected to explore this world blindfolded, but I failed at that.



Medusa is one of many androids that you wear. Again, without any descriptions, this was difficult to visualize. The Medusa androids can be worn like suits yet they are their own AI persons. I really don’t know how this works.

The society is broken into Executives — an aristocracy — and Worms, the servants. Oichi is a Worm. (I thought this meant she was a non-corporeal AI at first; again, no descriptions or explanations.) This society is waaaaaayy too airlock-happy. The ship appears to have about 200 airlocks. (Why so many??) They are used almost every day for executions, murders, and suicides. They are never monitored, guarded, or locked, apparently.



As a music teacher, I appreciated Oichi’s dedication to music. It WILL make kids’ brains smarter.



But I never knew what her goals were beyond sharing music with everyone else. Social equality? General knowledge? It just felt like she was meandering around, collecting other outcasts and getting tossed out of airlocks repeatedly. Also, the author doesn’t know what reticent and disinterested actually mean. A decent editor should have fixed that.

Nice audio performance.
Reader’s Choice Nominee, Summer 2019