Publisher: BOOM! Studios Page Count: 128 Fiction Genre: Graphic Novel, Comic Book, Art, Fantasy, Paranormal, Feminism, Mystery Dates Read: June 16, 2015 Summary Jo, April, Mal, Molly, and Ripley are a small pack of LumberJane Scouts. While away at LumberJane camp, they find themselves in a series of misadventures all centered around the Kitten Holy. What will the LumberJanes do when they come up against talking foxes, river monsters, zombie boy scouts, and yetis? Review This was a strong first book for LumberJanes. I was particularity impressed by the all female writing/animation team, but more than that, I was impressed with the great, funny, light-hearted, and quirky story with outstanding animation. The characters are well developed, each having their own distinct personality. Full of charm, sass, and a quick wit. Wonderful dialogue and story line. Well done, ladies. I can't wait for volume 2! Ratings (based on a 10 point scale) Quality of Writing - 7 Pace - 6 Plot Development - 6 Characters - 7 Enjoyability - 8 Insightfulness - 5 Ease of Reading - 7 Photos/Illustrations - 8 Overall Rating - 4 out of 5 stars
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Publisher: Atria Books Page Count: 272 Nonfiction Genre: Science, Animals, Nature, Psychology, Memoir, History, Marine Biology Dates Read: June 5 - 16, 2015 Summary How much do you know about octopuses? If you're like me before reading this book, you don't know a whole lot, except that they're pretty cool animals. In The Soul of An Octopus, Sy Montgomery introduces us to several octopuses she has encountered through her work. She wants us to see that the life of an octopus is not as simple as we believe it to be. She wants us to see that humans and octopuses have a lot in common, especially when it comes personality. Montgomery wants us to see what she saw, and to view octopuses as she did. As an animal with a personality, a heart, a soul, and most importantly, a conscious. Review I can never express how much I love this book. I really did not know much about octopuses before reading it. From the first story of Athena, I instantly wanted to drop what I was doing, and join the Marine Biology program at my school so I could hang out with our octopus and go deep sea diving to study them in their natural habitat. Montgomery shows us the beautiful and tragic life of an octopus. There is so much more to these creatures than we have ever known. She presents us with a wealth of knowledge and background about these guys without letting her book become heavy as though she were writing a scientific textbook. We journey with her through the life and death of her eight-legged friends. Montgomery has put together a beautiful and insightful book. Ratings (based on a 10 point scale): Quality of Writing - 8 Pace - 7 Plot Development - 7 Characters - 8 Enjoyability - 9 Insightfulness - 10 Ease of Reading - 8 Photos/Illustrations - 9 Overall Score - 4 out of 5 stars Publisher: Harper Collins Page Count: 525 Fiction Genre: YA, Sci-Fi, Dystopian, Fnatasy, Adventure Dates Read: June 14 - 16, 2015 Summary Welcome back to dystopian Chicago, where the Factions are in turmoil. The Erudite, with the help of Dauntless leaders, have injected the majority of Dauntless with a mind control serum, and have commanded them to murder the leaders of Abnegation, and any other of the factions members. Now surviving Abnegation members, along with dissenting Erudite and Dauntless members have found temporary shelter and protection with Amity, before moving on to Cantor to ask for assistance. Meanwhile tensions rise and a war is brewing. Can Tris and Four survive this, and can their relationship survive the strains that are pulling them apart? Review I am so angry about this book. The wishy-washy feelings I had after book one have dissolved into pure acidic anger. It seems illogical to have this much distaste for a book, but what I had hoped would be a strong YA series has let me down. I am angry with Roth because she destroyed our protagonists. In book one, Tris was an uncertain young girl trying to figure out who she is in light of learning that she has been labeled as something dangerous, and cannot speak about it to anyone. In a short time she developed into a strong and independent young woman who can stand up for herself. Four was a strong, mysterious, and caring man in the first book. He wore his heart on his sleeve, yet her kept it guarded, only letting you see it when he knew he could trust you. Though there is maybe about a months passing between books one and two, we see a polar personality shift between these two people. Tris has become a sniveling, whining, suspicious person, while Four has become an angry, withdrawn, and unstable man. Given the short time span, it does not make sense how these two people could change so drastically. Instead of building up her plot, Roth pushes forward with something that is thinly put together, and filled with numerous plot holes. It seemed like Roth found herself in a hole and did not know how to proceed, especially when it came to tris and Four's interactions. It felt like 80% of the book revolved around Tris and Four making out, Tris and Four yelling at each other, Tris and Four not trusting each other, Tris and Four threatening each other, and the Tris and Four making out, again. Meanwhile, Roth has failed to thoroughly develop any of her secondary characters. As I'm sitting here just finishing up book two, I am unsure if I have the will to push forward into book three. I want to have faith that it will get better, but given the downhill slide that has been Insurgent, I have troubles finding that faith in Roth as an author. The last 3-5 pages of Insurgent surprised me, and I am intrigued by the cliff-hanger. Will curiosity get the better of me? Ratings (based on a 10 point scale): Quality of Writing - 6 Pace - 5 Plot Development - 3 Characters - 1 Enjoyability - 3 Insightfulness - 2 Ease of Reading - 6 Photos/Illustrations - N/A Overall - 2 out of 5 stars Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books Page Count: 487 Fiction Genre: Fantasy, Dystopian, YA, Sci-Fi, Romance, Adventure Dates Read: June 10 - 13, 2015 Summary Set in a future, torn apart Chicago, Beatrice is just turning 16. It's time for her to take Faction Examination which will help guide her as she makes the largest, irreversible, decision of her life. Which Faction will she commit her life to, her current faction Abnegation (selflessness), or will she decide to transfer to one of the other four factions, Candor (Honesty), Amity (Peacefulness), Erudite (Intellectual), or Dauntless (Fearless)? Beatrice must choose between her family of herself, a tough decision, but not as tough as her upcoming initiation into her chosen faction. She must follow through with her decision while keeping a very dangerous secret hidden from the rest of society. Review This is a tough one. I can see the potential in this story, but I honestly cannot understand why so many people are head-over-heels with this book. At it's very best it is mediocre. The characters are poorly developed and the plot of the story is thinly put together. We are expected to believe that having only one personality trait is desirable and you're supposed to pick the future of your life based on this one personality trait to act and behave just like everyone else in your society, while having more than one trait is considered "dangerous" to society, and you are thus labeled as "Divergent". Ooooooh, scary! What happens if you don't pass initiation, don't pick a faction, or choose to leave your selected faction? You are cast out (to who knows where exactly) and become one of the "Factionless" ... Basically it's a fancy word for bum or homeless. What upsets me is how Roth is incapable of explaining just how Divergent is dangerous. We're just supposed to buy it and accept it. The "love story" in this book is a joke. What we find between Tris and Four is creepy and forced. I seriously think that Bella and Edward in Twilight had a better love story. Also, what happened to the rest of the world? Hell, what happened to the rest of the United States? It's like the only people left on the face of the Earth have all congregated in Chicago and have developed these weird, one personality trait cults. How did the world end up in this state? I am really frustrated by this book because I know it could have been excellent. Roth could have produced something that was amazing, instead we got this. A half-assed YA, Dystopian novel. There are so many unanswered or neglected questions, and a ton of plot holes that are never addressed. Since I am committed to the rest of the series, I can only hope that Roth finally delivers and gives us more content instead of an empty shell of story. Rankings (based on a 10 point scale) Quality of Writing - 6 Pace - 5 Plot Development - 4 Characters - 6 Enjoyability - 5 Insightfulness - 4 Ease of Reading - 6 Photos/Illustrations - N/A Overall Score - 3 out of 5 stars Publisher: Penguin Classics Page Count: 512 Nonfiction Genre: Philosophy, Classics, Politics, Political Science, History Dates Read: June 10 - 13, 2015 Summary What motivates man? In this collection of Aristotle works, he examines the heart of political science. He examines different forms of government to determine what might be the best for a society, and how that society can create happiness and harmony for its citizens. Though published a very, VERY long time ago, this is still and standard in any political science program. Review There is not a whole lot to say about this book. It's a collection of Aristotle's writings on political science. Some of it is well known, and some of it hasn't seen the light of day in a very long time. Most of these pieces I had read previously during my masters program a couple of years ago. It's good quality stuff that still holds true today (mostly). I think it is important that we always have these to look back on, and to learn from. A lot of it is a bit dry, but that's mainly due to the writing style of the time these were written. Some are a little boring, but there are just as many, if not more that are exciting and engaging, though that could just be my inner poli sci nerd rearing her little head. I recommend this if you want to learn something more about politics and the pseudo-history of it, or you're just curious about some of Aristotle's works. This won't be a gripping page turner, but it is very informational. Rankings (based on a 10 point scale) Quality of Writing - 8 Pace - 5 Plot Development - 5 Characters - 5 Enjoyability - 6 Insightfulness - 7 Ease of Reading - 6 Photos/Illustrations - N/A Overall Score - 3 out of 5 stars Publisher: Vintage Books Page Count: 112 Fiction Genre: Realistic, Classics, YA Dates Read: June 9, 2015 Summary Esperanza is a young girl living in Chicago. She tells her story through a series on vignettes. Sometimes harsh and heartbreaking, they are also joyous and inspiring. This is the story of a young Latino girl trying to find out who she is and where she belongs. Review People seem to be pretty divided about this book, falling into one of two categories; love it or hate it. I seem to find myself in the latter group. While Cisneros is a good writer, and she had a promising story in The House on Mango Street, her book was flat and one dimensional. This was decent writing quality trapped in an awful story. Because this was told through vignettes, the chapters do not connect to each other; like reading a collection of short stories, but all centered around the same protagonist. Reading this was like reading the nonsensical ramblings of a teenage girl's diary, who refuses to to put her entries in chronological order, let alone date them, and who appears to have amnesia, and forgets things nearly instantly. I wish I could have more positive things to say about this book ... The cover was adequate. There, that's another positive thing. Overall, this book was garbage and I don't know why people love it so much. Rankings (based on a 10 point scale) Quality of writing - 6 Pace - 3 Plot Development - 2 Characters - 4 Enjoyability - 3 Insightfulness - 3 Ease of Reading - 7 Photos/Illustrations - N/A Overall Score - 2 out of 5 stars Publisher: Random House Books Page Count: 499 Fiction Genre: Fantasy, Dragon, Romance, Mystery, Adventure, YA Dates Read: June 5 - 8, 2015 Summary Seraphina lives in time of a peace treaty between humans and dragons. Dragons are required to morph themselves into human forms, and are forbidden to change to their natural forms, except for once a year, during the celebration of the peace treaty signing. Though this is a time of peace, humans still hold a lot of mistrust towards the dragons. Since she was a little girl, Seraphina has been told to never bring too much attention to herself, because it could mean giving up her life and the lives of those she cares about most. But how can a young woman with the gifted musical talents Seraphina has, stay unnoticed? Not only does she become the center of attention, but she soon befriends the future queen and her fiance (also the future queen's cousin). Will Seraphina be able to maintain her dearly held secret while helping and protecting her Draconian tutor? Review This is another book that I am unsure of. Overall, this was a very good book. Hartman is a good author with a good story to share. Seraphina is well written and fairly original. Though I found the love story between Seraphina and her love interest to be shallow, at best, I found the relationship between our young protagonist and her tutor to be the most lovely in this story. What confuses me, if the progress of this story. I was hooked on this book from the very start. It was beautiful and engaging. I was rooting for Seraphina all the way, hoping that things would work out for her. Then I got to about 15 pages from the end, and I lost my mind. What the hell happened? It's like Hartman didn't know what to do, and so she forced an ending and a relationship that was poorly and sadly developed, and attempted to turn it into a cliff hanger for her second book. While 95% of this story is outstanding, it is that last 5% that totally drug it through a pile of elephant dung, and then was forced into the beautiful packaging of a "romance". Twlight had a better love story than Seraphina ... I do not regret saying that. I am unsure if I can force myself to read book 2. I have hopes that Hartman can turn this around, but I am also afraid that she is in a downward spiral of placating to the YA enthusiasts to crank out a boring, poorly developed, and shallow story, just to make a few dollars. Rankings (based on a 10 point scale) Quality of Writing - 8 Pace - 7 Plot Development - 7 Characters - 9 Enjoyability - 8 Insightfulness - 5 Ease of Reading - 8 Photos/Illustrations - N/A Overall Score - 4 out of 5 stars |
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