The Immortal Rules

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Vampires are not my thing, even reluctant ones. Having said that, I must admit that I do read some books where they play a part. And in this case, they are the central part.

Allie is a vampire, having seized the option offered to her after having been savagely attacked and left to die. Where her existence previously consisted of scavenging a life from the dregs of society, now she is taken under the wing of a "sire." He teaches her how to defend herself, about the way vampire society works, and how to eat like a proper lady . . . vampire. There comes a point when they have to separate, and Allie finds a ragtag group of survivors in the wilds. They are trying to get to what may be a mythical place while trying to avoid "rabids," vampire-like zombies responsible for Allie's near-death. There has been a plague which decimated the human population and scientists tried to find a cure; the rabids are the result of trying to use vampires to do it. These rabids inhabit the areas around and between vampire cities. Additionally, Allie's sire Kanin struggles to find a cure for the plague while avoiding vampire hierarchy.

This sounds like a complicated plot, but it's really pretty straightforward: vampire girl tries to find her way in dystopia. That about sums it up.

The book is written well, which is what kept me reading. The action and dialogue are cohesive; nothing seems stilted or to come out nowhere. There's really no lag in the movement of the plot either. There is action, battle, running from danger, facing impossible odds. This would make both a wonderful graphic novel and a movie. Our reluctant hero never seems to sit and whine about her situation. Rather, she tends toward self-loathing with a realistic view that things are what they are, and that being a vampire was indeed her choice. She is decidedly not a whiner. Basically, she just gets over herself.

The turning point, of course, is when she decides that she is not the monster she might otherwise be. Then things get a bit dicier along the adventure. Allie's character didn't really change as much at that point as simply expand - part of the appeal of the story is to see Allie grow into herself, accepting her choices and finding her way amidst those who would certainly reject her if they knew what she was. This plays out in a good way and a bad way; good in that she gains maturity and self-acceptance. It is bad in that her ability and choice to communicate are somewhat lacking. I found myself many times wondering why she wouldn't just be honest with those around her and simply take the adventure from there. I realise that it creates a tension in the story that keeps us interested, but I find I am increasingly weary of heroines who refuse to be honest because they are afraid of being rejected.

The other characters - Kanin (Allie's vampire "dad"), Zeke and Jeb, are well-defined. There is a love story between Zeke and Allie, but it is largely incidental within the scope of the story. It provides the basis for some of their choices but is really a minor plot element. Jeb was an interesting guy, a nice contrast to Zeke which is interesting because he is a father figure for Zeke. Kanin is probably my favourite of the characters. He's dark, brooding, wise, and most definitely a big bad vampire.

Also regarding characters, I have to say that I was easily able to see them in my mind. They were real images of people rather than just ideas or vague images. To Kagawa's credit, she is a very good writer on that front. She was unafraid of killing many of the characters off, which I found to be a brave choice.

The book struck me as basically a YA version of The Passage by Justin Cronin. The action is more PG here, which I preferred. The book is relatively dark and gritty, but more in a wild west sort of way. Good people are better able to survive really, really bad stuff. This seemed to lighten the story enough to where the world didn't seem quite so bleak. That said, some of the plot turns were typical and predictable. I was led along a storyline that I have been down enough times to easily navigate and expect.

Regardless of its problems, Kagawa has written a very good story that deserves the acclaim it has received. Although I have not read the The Twilight Collection by Stephenie Meyer, I understand from lovers of this sub-genre that Kagawa's story stands head and shoulders above Meyer's series.

I listened to the audio version of this book narrated by Therese Plummer. Although she kept the story riveting, I didn't care for many of her characterizations. Like Justine Eyre, she tends to pause the dialogue in odd places in order to define the characters. This isn't the way I would imagine the characters actually speaking, and it threw it off for me. Perhaps this is one better read in print.

All things considered, this was a good book. To its credit, this Blood of Eden series promises to be outstanding - even for vampire-avoiders like me.

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All Our Yesterdays

All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Time travel done right. Finally! Thank you, Cristin Terrill! The cover flap of this book says ""All Our Yesterdays is a wrenching, brilliantly plotted story of fierce love, unthinkable sacrifice, and the infinite implications of our every choice." Having just closed the cover, I couldn't agree more.

Time travel inevitably involves a complicated story that is difficult to follow. That is, unless an author sets simple rules and sticks to them. In this story, Terrill has done it expertly. One of her laws - the idea that time has a sentient quality - fixes many of the mistakes made by many storytellers. I also loved the idea that time is not linear as we understand it. What if it's really not? The way she explains paradoxes is brilliant. The bottom line is simply this: when we as readers know the rules the author has created and she doesn't break those rules, we can finally enjoy a great story that makes sense.

The tale is told from the viewpoints of Em and Marina. By alternating perspectives with each chapter, it is far more easy to keep track of what is present and what is past. Even when it starts to get really complicated - and it does near the end - it is not difficult to understand.

The plot is fairly straightforward. Isn't every time travel story about going back to fix things in the past? The thing that's unique about this particular story is that it's been done 14 times previously by the protagonist. Will she get it right this time? Well, that's the story.

Em is a gritty main character. She's been through torture, she's been on the run from authorities, she's been part of a rebel/terrorist organization and she's both escaped and been caught. She's been betrayed. She is determined and focused, and yet never seems to have lost her true heart or humanity. She is fiercely protective of Marina. She is somewhat of a study in contradiction, and that's what I liked about her. Every time I thought she was tough and heartless, she was overcome by her love and compassion.

Marina, on the other hand, is a spoiled rich girl who is shallow and a bit silly. These negative qualities can be attributed to her insecurity, though. She is at the same time loyal and loving, devoted to James. Mostly she is simply immature. But even at that, she is not unlikable. So much of today's society is full of teenagers just like her. On a list of the best of them, I'd at least put her at the top.

James is a brilliant character, both in his personality and in the way he is written. Finn is charming and funny, practical and humble. The lesser characters (Richter, Nate, the Shaw family, Marina's parents and Finn's mother) are really just highlights. They serve the plot and are each distinct without drawing attention from the main points we really care about.

The action doesn't stop for a minute. The suspense kept me riveted enough to read the book in one sitting. The climax of the story is terrifying, shocking and complicated at the same time. I found myself shaking my head at the end, wondering exactly what happened, having to think it all through again to make sense of the paradoxical aspect of the events.

This book is smart, and I like that. It's also not pretentious. It is heart-wrenching, scary and romantic. It may even be possible, and I think that is what may be, for me, its most attractive quality. I do love a story that just might happen. This isn't just a great story for time-travel lovers. Fans of dystopia and apocalypse will also enjoy those elements that it offers.

And the ultimate irony here is that virtually every novelist goes back and rewrites their book. Isn't that some version of time travel, rewriting the past? Well done, Cristin Terrill. Could you do it again please?




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Crewel

Crewel by Gennifer Albin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was expecting a lot from this book due to all the reviews of people I trust. I was not disappointed. I think this is right up there at the top of my favorites. That's 4.75 stars up there.

The two major reasons for this are 1-I am fascinated with string theory, and 2-I am a sewer and I get all that warp/weft/weaving stuff. It's easy for me to visualize what is happening with the tapestries.

On the dystopian front, this is a book that has probably the most interesting premise I have as yet encountered. Being able to "weave" time - that's quite a creative concept. And to handle it within the framework of a controlling futuristic society built on earth, well, wow. Just wow. The whole weaving time thing had me at the start. Taking matter and forming it into an entire world, formed "on top" of earth but really in a separate dimension. Mind = blown.

Albin's Pinterest page for the book is full of great visuals. I didn't realise it was quite so Art Deco in its setting, but I did get the whole women-in-skirts thing. A movie of this book would be a feast for the eyes.

I did like the characters, although I have to admit that Maela was a bit much. Corwin was interesting, since he wasn't a really bad villain but certainly bad in his apathy. A lot of villains are just horrid mean - he was more cocky in a detached way that conveyed his absolute belief that he was in control.

The standard love interest/triangle is there, but the triangle part is really incidental. While I wish I knew more about the characters, I knew enough about the ones I didn't care quite as much about. The ones I did care about will be appearing in the next installment, and I'm happy with that.

The pacing is good. I wasn't bored at all. It was slightly predictable, but that ending! And thank you Gennifer Albin for a cliffhanger ending that doesn't have me emotionally destroyed until the next book comes out. This book alone should probably be read a couple of times just to really get the science of what's happening. That whole time/matter/space thing is tricky.

All in all, one of the best books I've read this year. I liked it enough to get it on Amazon - I wanted a print copy to really read through the science. Can't wait (except I guess I have to wait) until October and the second book.

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Origin

Origin by Jennifer L. Armentrout
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thank you, Jennifer Armentrout, for not taking the easy way out. This latest installment could have been one big long, drawn out mess concentrating on stuff we could have cared less about.

But instead, you gave us some great stuff! Katy and Daemon! There was action, there was suspense, there was danger. There were new people. Katy and Daemon kept their sass but their relationship deepened and grew. You didn't shortchange us on any kind of level.

Thank you. Thank you for not trying to make the story into something it wasn't, too realistic or too fanciful, nothing like that. You just stayed true to the characters and gave us a great showdown. WELL DONE. Thank you! Thank you!

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Survive

Survive by Alex Morel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Now here is a take on survival that I hadn't ever encountered. What if you wanted to kill yourself, only to be presented with a situation where you are forced to survive in order to save someone else?

This is the story of Jane, who jokes about killing herself. She comes from a family of suicides; her grandparents killed themselves, her father killed himself, and now she decides it's time for her to kill herself. Even after a stint in a rehab facility for those who have unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide, she is undaunted. She has calculated this and she is determined. While on a plane heading back to visit her mother, she goes into the small lavatory armed with pills and cold medicine. But before she can swallow, the plane crashes, and ironically it is the small closet of a bathroom that stays intact. She survives the crash, along with Paul, the passenger who was seated next to her.

After the crash, they have to survive climbing over a mountain to get to safety. It isn't easy, and the book doesn't make it seem easy. But it also doesn't overemphasize the nature of the disaster. They are probably not going to live through the snow and cold and dangers. They need to get lucky, and they need to be smart.

And they are smart, for the most part. The book is much more about the mental game of survival than the physical one. It is much more a journey of how Jane and Paul manage to view the experience through their own past challenges and faults. Some of it may seem unrealistic, but then again, desperate people do desperate things, even silly emotional things. When you're not sure you're going to live through something, I am quite certain that we do things we would not otherwise do.

This story is brief and that's good, because it isn't some sort of black hole of despair, as some accounts of these sorts of journeys are. It is to the point, honest, straightforward. It is what it is and doesn't pretend to be anything else. The aspect of depression is not at the forefront of this story. Rather, it is simply one of, well, survival - in a broad sense. Of course there are more riveting stories of managing to stay alive despite plane crashes on snow-covered mountains, with injuries and starvation and the usual problems. This is not one of those stories. It is simply a study in what it means to want to stay alive. What things are worth living for?

Its title is fitting. It is well-written, well-paced, and overall a very good book.

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Hourglass

Hourglass by Myra McEntire
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time travel is probably my most favourite of sci-fi themes. So when I saw time travel plus that gorgeous cover, I knew I'd probably love this story. Love it? Not so much. Like it? Yes.

The story is about Emerson, a 17 year old girl who is an orphan being looked after by her brother and his wife. She has recently returned to Tennessee from a boarding school in Arizona. Apparently she has had some emotional and mental problems in dealing with the death of her parents; playing into these problems are the fact that she can see apparitions. Her brother has tried many things in an effort to help her and finally happens upon the Hourglass organization, and he hires a consultant to assist Emerson in dealing with these problems.

I'm not sure if I liked Emerson or not. She was wisecracking, headstrong, reckless and just flat annoying at times. No matter how those around her tried to help her or advise her, she always seemed to think she had a better idea about the way things should be done. She didn't seem to make even one wise decision. I think I could have liked her a lot if she'd either dealt more seriously with her backstory or if she hadn't had the backstory and was just sarcastic. But the marriage of the two made her less than believable for me.

Michael was all over the place for me. I never did seem to grasp his purpose: was he a therapist? Was he a friend? How could he be just a couple of years older than Emerson and yet in a position to advise her counsel her? Did he live in the apartment loft or at the pseudo-frat house at the unnamed college he attended? Was he able to ever give Emerson a straight answer about anything and did was he ever going to tell her anything specific about anything?

The plot started out seeming like a ghost story. But wait, wasn't this supposed to be time travel? The story seemed to take a lot of time laying out details that didn't connect at all. I was lost - and thus bored - for about the first half of the book. And then suddenly things got interesting. All these random facts and situations started to tie together and make sense, and lo and behold there was time traveling happening!

Fortunately, the time travel wasn't excessively complicated and followed some simple rules. But the way it was couched within superheroes with super powers didn't appeal to me at all. Mad scientists? Yes. Empaths? OK, but what does that have to do with time travel?

When the story got to the actual time-traveling and stopped being about all kinds of other paranormal nonsense, it got pretty good. There was mystery, intrigue, really evil villains, and some degree of unpredictability. Emerson seemed to get a brain and Michael got a purpose. The insta-love stopped being stupid and started making some sense. The random happenings at the beginning of the story started to tie in, and the whole story ended up being pretty good.

I liked the secondary characters more than the main characters, which seems odd. But Kaleb and Lily had some depth and great qualities. Apparently Kaleb has a big role in the sequel "Timepiece," which immediately makes me want to read it.

So much of this story seems convenient and cliche. There are definitely books out there that do time travel better. But this one does an adequate job. I can't put a hearty recommendation behind it, but it is a somewhat entertaining and quick read. If my expectations had been lower, I think I would have enjoyed this book more. That said, I will be reading the sequel. Often a series gets better if the first book is less than stellar. And hey, it's time travel. That alone makes me want to keep going.

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Lucid by Adrienne Stoltz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. Loved it. Hands down, no question, loved loved loved it. I am wondering why I took so long to read it. It is also enigmatic, so in order to keep this review spoiler-free I'm basically going to tell you absolutely nothing about it.

While the premise is not the most original I've ever read or seen (in film), it is masterfully handled. The writing is funny, inventive, silly, clever. The truth is revealed inch by inch but not in a way that has you raving at the book to "just tell me already!" The plot does not drag or even lull. The ending is a surprise and not a surprise and a surprise.

The characters make this book:

Sloane, who is reserved, smart, loyal, devoted, wise, somewhat blinded to herself and others around her in terms of physical beauty, focused, sarcastic, generous, thoughtful, loving, introverted, everyone and no one all at once, and aware she is blessed but is not happy.

Maggie, who is fun, outgoing, clever, confident, self-aware but with a healthy dose of realism, perceptive, happy, funny, always in the moment, direct, honest, quick to forgive, wonderful to be around, generous and smart.

Andrew, who is funny, sly, sweet and caring in a I'm-not-letting-on-what-I-really-feel kind of way.

James, who is perfect.

Gordy, who is also perfect but in a way completely different than James.

Thomas, who is calculating and duplicitous.

Jade and Max, who are adorable, which may or may not be what they really are but what they are in this story.

And the parents, who are the people you'd expect in the situations they're in.

This book will pull all your emotions and ends without making you cry. It is a happy book while still being complicated with sad parts. It is one of those stories written by screenwriters which makes a much better book. If they choose to make this into a movie (or if they already have), I'm sure it could never encompass the range of emotion and feeling that the book evokes. It was refreshing and sweet and clever and wonderful.

Just read it. You'll see what I mean.

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10 TINY BREATHS

Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sometimes a New Adult novel handles a social issue extremely well, and this is one of those novels.

Ten Tiny Breaths is the story of Kacey and her struggle to overcome the trauma of a car accident, of which she was the lone survivor. It's an excellent commentary on the way we handle stress and emotional overload. And it's a nice romance as well.

I appreciated greatly that the plot here is believable. The people that Kacey gets involved with are reasonable folks; they're not the most savoury of characters, but they aren't entirely bad. If there is something that enters into the plausability factor, it is simply that people who generally work in strip clubs and live in furnished, run-down apartment buildings are all really nice people who care for each other. That's probably a stretch. But here, it works.

Kacey is not your general damsel-in-distress. She has a whole host of coping mechanisms. And for someone dealing with her real-life issues there is a real point of connection. Her feelings are conflicted. She's a mess. And she doesn't try to cover that up on any kind of level. This character is honest about her failings and is endearing because of them. She takes positive steps to move away from the bad things in her life, and when she gets tripped up, we are right there with her feeling her pain and anguish.

Trent, although somewhat stereotypical in looks and manner, isn't stereotypical after all. The way KA Tucker weaves him into Kacey's story is just interesting enough to be unpredictable. When an author can keep me guessing he/she gets high marks. And I didn't expect for the story to go where it did.

The secondary characters are just delightful. Storm, Dan, Mia, Livie, Cain, Nate, Bob . . . they're all likeable and entertaining. Somehow Tucker has managed to give them just that slight bit more depth than I would have expected. It's as if they're each a bit of a cliche, but with a twist.

I couldn't put this book down, and it was a relatively quick read. It was engaging and well-paced. Not only did I not get bored, I didn't get easily distracted.

The ending was neatly tied up, which threw the reality factor out the window. But in these sorts of books I don't think we readers really care. We aren't looking for real life, after all. We want a beautiful romance between flawed individuals who are struggling to overcome their own personal issues. We want that happy ending for them. And in this case, the fairytale opens up and takes over the entire ending.

The story did a great job of addressing PTSD and the serious damage it can do to a life. It also handled the issue of drunk driving extremely well. The idea that people do the best they can with the information they have is paramount, and if that isn't reality I don't know what is.

The book is funny at times, certainly entertaining, and the characters are endearing. There are so many books in this genre which try to tackle various social issues; this one does it well. It's an honest peek at engaging people. And I'm looking forward to more from this author.

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