Lugh got born first. On midwinter day when the sun hangs low in the sky.

Then me. Two hours later.

That pretty much says it all.

Lugh goes first, always first, an I follow on behind.

An that’s fine.

That’s right.

That’s how it’s meant to be. (p. 1)

This is the first page of the novel. If you HATE reading dialects in fiction, give this one a miss, because it don’t never git any better than that. There ain’t no punck-chee-ashun. No quotation marks to tell you if something is being said. There’s a reason for all this madness. I understand why it’s written like this but I didn’t really enjoy it. The reasoning behind the style (this is all assumption on my part, BTW) is that the population as a whole is largely illiterate and language is fluid so it’s been dumbed down by years of illiteracy. It’s also written in the first person, so we don’t ever get a break from it. If she would have considered writing this in the third person, it might have been easier to read.

Other than the style of writing, it was a pretty good dystopian read. It held some similarities with The Hunger Games, and I’ve heard that Ridley Scott bought the movie option rights to this before it was even published. There may be a version of this coming to a theatre near you in the next couple of years. It would really make a great movie. There was a lot of action, and a love interest that’s intense but  doesn’t steal the show. The world building was a bit unbelievable, and the main character was pretty annoying but if you like to read post-apocalyptic fiction, give it a try. But beware, it looks like this one is going to be a trilogy.

Then I saw the trailers on Facebook. The first was crap, but still all the ladies on FB swooned. I thought “what is the deal with these books?”

But then they posted the second trailer, and I was at least convinced that I wanted to see the movie.

Before you know it my wife (with some help from our Facebook friends) had talked me into reading the first book, The Hungers games.

It was good, really good. I had a hard time putting it down. There were things that kind of bothered me, the universe seemed a little underdeveloped, Katniss was a little flakey, but it wasn’t bad enough to make me want to stop or even slow down. Then I hit book 2.

The things that bugged me a little about the first book started to get more pronounced. What really started to drive me crazy was Katniss’ behavior. She started acting like a 17 year old. I know, you are thinking, “but she is.” but still it drove me crazy. She was selfish, needy, flakey and selfish. Did I mention selfish. It was hard for me sympathize with her at all. Meanwhile, she has these kind, brave and handsome young men all gaga over her. Huh? I know guys will sometime ignore neurosis for looks, but according to the book she is not really that pretty. I’m thinking “what the!?!”

It went from annoying to bizarre for book three. And then it ended. The last four pages of the book were brilliant, but everything between the end of book one and there was me trudging up hill through the snow.

Absolutely read book one, but maybe give book two and three a pass. If you need to know how it ends, drop me a note or read the Wikipedia page,  it’ll save you the time of reading them.

If you want another perspective read Cindi’s review of The Hunger Games, Clarissa’s review of Catching Fire and Mockingjay.

If you enjoy reading good books, give this one a try, well this series really. This book was definitely worth the wait. I’m sure book three will be even better.

When this book first came out, I read it immediately. My initial reaction to the book was fairly luke warm. I love getting lost in a Cassandra Clare novel. She ushers me into the world she’s created and quickly, lets the drama unfold. However, she seems to like the “bad boy” characters more than I do. Obviously, there’s a bad boy in this book. He’s good looking, sulky, and also cuttingly funny. If you’re thinking he sounds like Jace, another of Clare’s characters, you’re not alone. I’m finding the “bad boys” to be a bit cliche. Honestly, who wants to be treated like that, I sure hope my daughter does not become someone who tolerates that kind of behaviour. Here is an excerpt of the review I wrote on Goodreads.com just after finishing the book

What is with bad boys in YA fiction? First of all, no one deserves to be treated the way Will treats, well everyone, but especially Tessa. I get that he is damaged and wants to push her away, but still feels connected to her. I just can’t stand that she’s taking it. From all the interviews I’ve read with Cassandra Clare, I get that she wants us to excuse Will’s bad behaviour, because he’s hurting. Well, I’m not going to take it. He can take his pain somewhere else. I think it would be funny if Cassandra Clare let a psychologist talk to the shadow hunters. It would do them all a world of good. 

However, it has been over a year since I read this book, and the second one is due out next week, and all I can feel about that is excited! Seriously, I can’t wait for Clockwork Prince to line the shelves of Chapters and yes, Wal-Mart. Obviously, the bad boys are not going to keep me away from the second instalment of the Infernal Devices series. Hey, I’m even giving it away. Maybe I have a weakness for jerks after all. Or, maybe he gets a break because he’s funny? Either way, check back on the blog next week to see how to enter.

“A dark, gothic tale of romance… and murder.
The latest book in the grippingly dark series, The Poison Diaries.

Our heroine, Jessamine, has lost her faith in the men she loved, and her innocence as well. She turns to the dark side and plots to kill her father, using his own poisons, before becoming an assassin, a poisoner for hire. Can she recover from her heartache and reunite with her true love, Weed? Find out in this thrilling story where poisons, darkness and horror are a part of everyday life, and love is the only cure.”

I probably should have read this before I read the book. It would have been less of a shock when she remorselessly kills her own father in the first 20 pages of the novel. I was shocked then, and I never had a chance to recover. This book took me places I never expected. I read the first book of this series last year and liked it. This book was very different from the first one, unnaturally so. I was constantly surprised by Jessamine’s behaviour and choices. Reading this book felt a bit like watching a plane in a downward spiral. You’re hoping for a recovery, but not sure of one. There was no recovery in this book, maybe it’s waiting in the next one, but I’m not sticking around to find out. As far as I’m concerned me and The Poison Diaries Series are through. Out.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review.

The second reason this story is unique, is that the main girl character is a Mormon. I mean, really a Mormon. The “For the Strength of Youth” pamphlet made an appearance (if you don’t know what that is google it.) This is the first book I’ve read that has a major Mormon character, was intended for a main steam audience, AND was published by a major publisher. This book was published by Razor Bill. Holy Horses. Morrison did a good job of explaining LDS (aka Mormon) Speak and other nuances like Branch President, Stake House and what “formal dress” means for Mormons. It also, surprisingly, didn’t bog down the text. So, good job there.

However, like I said before, I hated one of the main characters. That took a lot of the enjoyment out of the reading. Michael loses his entire family at the start of the novel, and spends the rest of it with post traumatic stress disorder. I think we’re supposed to cut him a break because of it. I do feel for the guy, but no excuse is good enough for the way he treats Leesie.

The main theme in this book is not grief, like you would think, it’s sex. It’s a classic will she or won’t she, with a Mormon twist. I was very disappointed. It seemed like this novel could have shifted focus away from sex to explore some other issues. The main reason that Michael is getting my ire is that he puts some major pressure on Leesie. “Show me that you love me.” What a jerk. Then Leesie feels guilty when she doesn’t give in. He doesn’t deserve her guilt. I realize that his behavior is plausible, and perhaps typical, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

At the end of the day, I’m not sure if I would recommend this book. It landed somewhere in the middle for me. I didn’t hate it, but I have no love for it either.

So let’s get down to it. The Sky Is Everywhere is a story about grief, sisters and family  with a dose of first love to help it all go down nice and easy. Jandy Nelson is a published poet, writer and literary agent and this is her first novel. The words in this book are so beautifully crafted that I want to hug it and hope it rubs off on me. Little poems litter the novel adding depth and insight into our main character Lennie.

Lennie’s sister Bailey died at the start of the novel and Lennie’s grief drips off the pages of this book. It’s so visceral and raw, it should be painful. But somehow, it’s not. Anyone who has dealt with loss will appreciate this book. Here is my favourite passage:

My sister will die over and over again for the rest of my life. Grief is forever. It doesn’t go away; it becomes part of you, step for step, breath for breath. I will never stop grieving Bailey because I will never stop loving her. That’s just how it is. Grief and love are conjoined, you don’t get one without the other. All I can do is love her, and love the world, emulate her by living with daring and spirit and joy.

Beautiful right? And so true. Anyway, enough fandimonium for a second. I must confess. This book has some language, if you are sensitive, stay away.

Coming out September 1, 2011

This book is well written, the descriptions are nice, the plot moves along, there’s a love story that doesn’t eat up the entire story and it was a nice entertaining read. But, and this is a big but, it did not end. I hate that. It’s as cruel as those terrible season cliff hangers ER used to put us through. You remember, once the season ended with an ambulance being blown up. We didn’t find out till the next season that they killed off a major character.

I have a large number of unanswered questions after finishing this book. It felt like we were getting somewhere, and bang, I turn the page and find the acknowledgments instead of another chapter or three. It seems like a greedy thing to do. By both the publisher and the author. Just finish the dang book. I hate that I’m going to have to buy yet another ten dollar book before I can get some of my many questions answered. Oh, and another problem, there is no news about how many books will be in the series. She says in her blog that there is a book 2 (called Hallowed, coming out next January) and there is going to be a book 3 and “quite likely a book 4.” That doesn’t sound very definitive to me. It makes me question whether or not she even has a story arc planned for the entire series or whether she’s taking this one book at a time. Series like that are frustrating for me. I like continuity.

That being said, I will buy the next book and “quite likely” the one after that. I need to find out what’s going to happen. I need my questions answered. So yes, the man, you may continue to spoon feed me, but I won’t be happy about it!