Bird Box is proof that you don’t need to be inventive to be creative and thrilling. There is nothing new in this novel that hasn’t been introduced by someone else, and yet it’s a phenomenal and magical combination of a whole pile of often-used ingredients. It’s haunting, and tense, and violent, and touching. Without dropping too many spoilers, I’ll say that this is the story of a young woman who survives a world-ending event along with a handful of strangers who find themselves tied to […]
Then we shall plumb the very heart of this mountain and eat it.
In “Library of Souls,” the final book in the “Peculiar Children” series, I was finally, to my great joy, surprised. The characters continued to be predictable to me, but the plot took some really exciting twists and turns down some very imaginative paths that I couldn’t have seen coming, but were well-laid-down-for in the first two books. This was a satisfying and thrilling end to a series that I really enjoyed reading, even if it did also lay me low with a whole bunch of […]
Do you ever find yourself climbing into an open grave during a bombing raid and just wish you’d stayed in bed?
“Hollow City” is the second book in the “Peculiar Children” series, picking up immediately where the first book left off without much catch-up exposition. As I continued reading the series, my feelings got darker and more desperate, in line with the experience of the characters. There is very little hope or joy in Jacob Portman’s journey. He is a young man who answers the call, and then just plugs away at all the minutiae of being a hero. It’s not that it’s a chore to […]
Males lack the seriousness of temperament required of persons with such grave responsibilities.
I swore that I would read this book well in advance of the film release this fall, and then I did not do it in time, and still have not yet seen the film, despite it being way up my alley. But I have finally read the book series, and so I have fulfilled half of this pop culture obligation, and I’m now… conflicted. I was prepared to adore the series. And, if I’m being honest, I couldn’t stop reading it. It had a lot […]
Its essence is a mathematical construct, a self-referencing tautology, consecrated in the plane of regret.
A salute to the Cannonball Read and the Readers, for bringing this book into my brain. Holy crap, you guys. So good. Honestly, I had been expecting (and bracing myself for) something super duper effed up, based on the reviews that I had skimmed (to avoid spoilers). And yeah, it’s dark and horrifying and confusing and complex, but still really fricking readable. Here’s what I texted about 20 of my closest friends when I was halfway through and couldn’t stop reading last night: “It’s as […]
Let’s Do The Time Warp
Who among us has not thought about what we would tell our younger self if we could go back in time? If we’re honest, we acknowledge that our younger self, after getting over disbelief and the resulting freak out, would not listen to a damned thing we had to say. That’s the challenge for Cal Leandros in Nevermore, the tenth installment in Rob Thurman’s urban fantasy series, and it goes about as well as you might expect.