What I've Read Lately - February

Well, as I begin writing this post, February is nearly over and I've only managed to read a few books.

Nine, by Zack Hines, is the first science fiction book that I've read in quite a while.  Unfortunately, it was just an okay book.  It is sort of an alternate reality book, which takes place in the present day but is based on the fact that at some time in the past there was some weird anomaly something or other that occurred, causing people to be reborn after they die, for a total of nine lives.  The main character and his personal conflict was pretty good, the concept that there was a club of teenage 'Burners' who burned through their lives was pretty good, but the whole side mystery and the characters involved with it was far, far, from pretty good.  And the stupid cat that the author threw in there, I'm guessing because cats have nine lives and all that, was super annoying.  So, I wouldn't really recommend reading this one, unless you are really into science fiction-y books and will read any of them that you can get your hands on.   (Reading Level: ? / Upper Grades)

After reading the not-so-great book described above, I thought I'd go with something safe and so I chose The Reckoning of Noah Shaw by Michelle Hodkin.  I read the first book in the trilogy way back in March of last year (you know, because I made the mistake of reading the first book in a trilogy right as soon as it was released), and found it likable, but less so than the Mara Dyer trilogy that it is a continuation of (see my  mini-review here for the details).  Anyway, unbelievably, this book was even a bit less likable than the first one!  It was really hard to follow, partly because it had been a year since I read the first one so details had become hazy, partly because the story pretty much follows Noah and his British friend so there is a lot of British slang and whatnot, and partly because, I guess, Ms. Hodkin and her editor didn't fix up the fact that it was kinda hard to follow.  If you are a Mara Dyer/Noah Shaw fan, you'll still definitely want to read this, but let's all cross our fingers that book three shapes up better.  (Reading Level: ? / Upper Grades)

Okay.  If you have been following this blog for the past few years, you will know that I tend not to like books about modern witches.  So why I chose to read Grim Lovelies by Megan Shepherd is beyond me.  Now, sometimes I make these kinds of decisions and am pleasantly surprised.  This is not one of those times.  I managed to make it to page 175, which is very nearly the halfway point of the book, but not of the story, since this is book one in a trilogy, which is why I finally said, nah, not going to sit through 900 more pages of this stuff.   It wasn't bad, it just wasn't my thing.

The Brink of Darkness, by Jeff Giles, is the conclusion to The Edge of Everything, which I read last month.  I read some reviews saying that the second book was even better than the first one, and so I was like, I can't wait!  But . . . . I didn't think this one was better than the first one.  Honestly, I didn't love it.  Except for the dialogue.  The dialogue was AWESOME.  The author ought to just write dialogue for t.v. shows and movies.  They'd be instant hits.  So whereas I gave the first book 4 stars on my Goodreads page, I'm only giving this one three, which is a real shame, because I was totally psyched for this one and am now mildly disappointed.  (Reading Level: ? / Upper Grades)


And that's all I've got for you.  As I mentioned in my last post, I've started a second blog that is taking up a lot of my time, so I think there is going to be a trend for a while of having only five books to review each month instead of ten (or more!), but hopefully you'll stick with me and find some good reading material anyway!