Review: Bound - A short story

Bound - A short story by Mark Lawrence
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Dammit, just a splash of the Book of the Ancestor when what I needed was a tidal wave. April can't get here soon enough!

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Review: Were-

Were- by Patricia Bray
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Just reading this for the Seanan McGuire and Faith Hunter stories for now. Next year I'll come back for the rest. :)

Best in Show by Seanan McGuire
A little predictable, other than that one extra twist! I was a little confused when Thea's named changed to Fiona partway through. 3.5 stars.

Anzu, Duba, Beast by Faith Hunter
I love Jane Yellowrock. I love the world, the mythology, the characters, the magic. 5 stars.

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Review: Honeymoon for One

Honeymoon for One by Keira Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

Enjoyable read. Had some things I didn't like - at some points the writing had some juvenile moments - but overall, quite entertaining. I want a Clay! #woof

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Review: The Three Secret Cities

The Three Secret Cities by Matthew Reilly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Man alive, was this one a roller coaster ride??? Oh wait, they all are. This one, though, might tear your heart out. There's torture and suffering and death.... but there's also a lot of fun classic Jack West adventure: crazy rescues, ancient cities, cool powerful artifacts, daring escapes, overwhelming odds, etc.

If you've not picked up any of Jack West's series, you should, starting with Seven Deadly Wonders. They're not deep literature, but they are absolutely fun as can be, especially if you go in expecting it to be cheesy and fun like most books can only aspire to be.

This is the fifth book in the series, so at this point, we're more invested in many of the characters... which makes some of the losses that much more painful. But I think you'll find the ride worth it. Join Jack West and his gang as they tear around the world, trying to save it YET AGAIN from both huge natural disasters and power-hungry villains, and you can be the newest part of his crew. :)

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Review: The Mansion

The Mansion by Ezekiel Boone
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

And, sigh, an honest review is what they're going to get. I'm sad it's not going to be super positive. I sincerely adored Boone's Hatching trilogy. Seriously, I obsessed over it when it was coming out. I had to wait for book three for so long and read it the instant it came out. It had action. It had character development (even the red-shirts felt fleshed out before they got, well, red-shirted). It had plot. It had pace. It had fun.

Unfortunately, this one was a bust. It had so much potential - a horror story for a new age, a haunted house retelling in a world of crazy technology. And it did a lot of things well - for example, Nellie was pretty terrifying overall. The little glimpses of bad we saw really teased of things to come.

My gripe was this - the book was mostly boring. It took over half the book before they got to the Mansion. The real action didn't even start until like 80%. There was a lot of character development - Boone excels at this aspect - but the pacing was bad, and it needed more action and more actual buildup. There were hints of Nellie's bad, but they were just tiny hints, and they were similar ones over and over. And the supernatural twist didn't make much sense given the rest of the book, and lots of things were thrown in to make it seem like it would fit. For instance, there's one scene where Emily looks out the window and sees a woman in the distance. Nellie tells her it's not a woman. Emily looks again, and the woman is gone. We never are told the point of this - was there a woman and Nellie was lying? Was there no woman and Emily was seeing things? Did it even matter? Not really.

I enjoyed the characters and the rich development of the backstory. Unfortunately, that's all the book really ended up having done well. I know Ezekiel Boone is capable of much more, based off his prior trilogy. Here's hoping this was a fluke and the next one he puts out is back to his original quality. Let's be honest though, I'm still going to read whatever he puts out next. The Hatching trilogy made me a fan.

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