Jennifer

Eew! Why didn’t this come with a trigger warning?

Revisado: 05-25-24

Because this is not clear in either the book summary or the reviews, I read, and you should definitely know in advance…
This book is about a 17 year old student and, in part, her romantic relationship with her grown, adult male teacher. He was a grown, adult teacher when he met her when she was 10 years old.


Gross! Gross, gross, gross! I had to return it. I wish someone had warned me. Yuck.

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Mixed

Revisado: 08-01-22

The narration was excellent. The prose was beautiful. The story was interesting and laugh out loud funny.
But….
There was at least one major storyline left unresolved- not as if you are intended to figure it out, but like the author forgot she meant to write about it. Me how my phobic tirades also shocked me. The protagonist never seems to change her mind about her homophobia either. It made her much more on the likable than anything else in the book. But I also think that the number of people who continually and seemingly without cause keep coming back to provide support for her is surprising. Calamities personal growth was, for me, insufficient to warrant reading her as a protagonist. Or, at least, one with such deeply serious character flaws I am supposed to like.

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Different and better than anticipated

Revisado: 07-08-17

This review is being written just after I finished the second book in this trilogy, Now I Rise, which is all that is available to me as of this date.
I am enjoying this series deeply. I keep pausing to wonder if this is the same Kiersten White who wrote Paranormalcy, but it totally looks that way.
These books are rich and detailed. I'll admit that my historical knowledge of the time and places these books take place is somewhat lacking, but now I've been reading more about it because it is just so interesting. The characters are developed, flawed, trying to be better people and finding it very difficult. Everyone has motivations for inexcusable actions that make those actions seem justifyable. Everyone is trying to work for the greater good as each person sees it, but in doing so, they commit some truely terrible acts. They love and hate and generally have incredibly complicated relationships like real people- well, like real people growing up in the time, place, and positions they all grew up in. They struggle with internal conflicts that tear them apart as much as the fighting, killing, and political intrigue. I've also been impressed with the development of the world. I suspect I'm not the only one who thought something like "The capital of the Ottoman empire was where exactly?", and the author does a fantastic job of getting us to understand the land, the people, and the political situations. We even get some insight into the lives of ordinary people of the time rather than just the nobles and royalty, though the main characters are all from the upper eschelons.
I love the protagonists, though I could do without the Sultan. I want happy endings for Lada and Radu, but, at the end of the second book, I'm not really seeing a way for that to happen. I am still holding out hope, though, for both of them.
The narration was something of a problem for me in the very beginning. The narrator's voice just seemed to drag out the less than entirely exciting "I was born..." part of the book. Now, though, I'm even enjoying the narration.
I can't wait for the last book in the series.

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More terrible than I'd feared

Revisado: 01-15-17

So I bought this book on sale (which I almost always end up regretting, but can't seem to stop myself from doing) despite the fact that it looked, well, kind of ridiculous, even for me. The reviews and ratings were, generally, pretty good, so I thought it might be worth the risk. But, remember, 50 Shades of Grey was a best seller...
So here it is: This book is a terrible, awful, no-good, horrible, very bad book. I'll try to say why without spoilers.
First, the characters are two-dementional. Well, no, the male characters have some depth and development, but the female characters are cardboard figures in one of two varieties. They have boobs and an uncontrollable need to scream and whine or they are unbelievably beautiful (you guessed it also with great boobs) and brilliant and kick ass and all-around wet-dreams rather than actual women. All of them, of course, need to be sexed, just sitting around waiting for some guy to turn them into doe-eyed puddles of mush so they can have meaning in their lives beyond saving the world.
Second, the plot. This isn't even about the mix of superheeroes and zombies. I'm willing to suspend disbelief. But within that, you should make things believable. You have indestructible superheroes who cannot be affected by the zombieism and can't be killed... Great, let's send them out with totally normal people to do incredibly dangerous supply runs. Your fearless leader is a supergenius with heretofore unimagined tactical brilliance and a ruthless willingness to use it, sure, of course she'd let the superhero with the capacity to destroy hundreds of zombies a minute serve as a flood light while people die because- I swear, I'm not making this up- it's "creepy" when he kills them. You know you have one monster who must be destroyed in order to render the entire assault winnable- be sure to put your best people elsewhere. Got a fire-proof villain? Put your people out there with him and then throw fire at him, because that's going to go well. He has 1 weakness and you know what it is- what kind of idiot wouldn't just exploit it?
Also, the big bad in this book isn't actually explained. There are explanations that are credible within the context of superheroes and zombies for the superheroes and zombies, but the big bad shouldn't be able to exist even within that world, and there is never an explanation for that.
Also, did I mention the misogynistic portrayal of the unrealistic sex-starved female characters? It was irritating.

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So bad

Revisado: 05-06-16

In order to fully express how much I detested this book, I’m going to have to admit some things I am not proud of. Here it goes: I listened to all nine million hours of Robert Jordan’s Waste of Time epic. I slogged my way through the never-ending Pretty Little Liars saga. It wasn’t because I loved either series. I hate not to finish things once I’ve started them.
I could not bring myself to finish the last two hours of this book. I cannot do it.
The characters are shallow. I don’t mean that their philosophies on life lack meaning. I mean that they are poorly developed. They act inconsistently with the little character that is developed in an effort to drive the story forward. They are pathetic, rebelling against the establishment (which I am generally in favor of) without reason, explanation, or effect (which I’m not).
Everything is too convenient. Although the protagonist is a Mohawk sporting, tattooed, bad attitude wielding smart-mouth, pretty much every person she comes across, man or woman, young or old, hard boiled Fed or paranoid werewolf, wants 1. To have her and 2. To help her. Need a way to get the totally private evidence in an ongoing investigation to your sketchy friends? Find a Fed who is ready to jump you or wait patiently by your hospital bed for no reason. Can’t defend yourself? Run into a martial arts instructor at a bar who wants to give you lessons because you ordered a Guinness. What could be more natural?
There’s a heavily sexual theme, although no actual sex at least with two hours left to go, but even that is weird. The main character is bi, counter-culture, and in with the BDSM crowd, but she’s weirdly prudish, blushing when she almost (Gasp) kisses another character and telling him she stopped moving that fast in college. And what there is about sex is vaguely queasy-making and pathetic. I did not find myself feeling excited by any of it, just a little sad and embarrassed for everyone involved.
There is a mystery here, and I don’t know for certain who dunnit. Usually, that would be good for only having two hours left, but honestly I just do not care and I don’t think I can accurately predict an outcome when the people behave so unnaturally. The mystery isn’t even all that interesting, and it involves a serial killer slicing tattoos off his victims while they are living. How bad does the writing have to be to make that dull?
The only nice thing I can say is that the narrator was acceptable, and even that isn’t entirely good. If she’d been terrible, I wouldn’t have bought it in the first place and wasted my time.

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narrator

Revisado: 02-23-15

pauses a lot. strange cadence to his style. a a a a a a a a a a a a

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Enjoyable

Revisado: 09-17-14

This book turned me into one of those people who can't get my friends to read what I'm reading and so tells them in too much detail about it. It can get a bit preachy in places, and the major premise of the book- that markets aren't morally neutral and we need to jettison that lie so we can begin to discuss the morality of certain transactions- is fairly apparent to anyone who's given it any thought, but the book was interestingly written and full of exciting examples. I became a factoid dispensing machine, outraged at the things money can, in fact, actually buy. It was good to know and easy to get through.
The narration wasn't spectacular, but it didn't detract for me. It happens sometimes when authors narrate their own books. Not exciting enough for a long road trip, but good for a morning commute.

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Rated for 1st book, reviewed for trilogy

Revisado: 01-29-14

So I often try not to review trilogies until the whole thing comes out and has been read and digested, because I think, "What could be worse than recommending a first book to someone only to have the successive two books suck the life and happiness from the little thrill left by a great first book?" Then I finished this trilogy and had an answer: worse? 2 fantastic books finished with one that makes little sense and ends wholly unsatisfactorily.

I will try not to give spoilers here, so please bear with any vagueries. I try to understand that not everyone will agree with me and refuse to read the series. So...

There are serious plot wholes in the last book. The ending makes no sense. If you think about it too hard- by which I mean almost at all beyond letting action scenes enter your brain and then leave again unrelated to anything- your brain might explode. At the very least, you will be frustrated.

Also, I don't care who you are (and I won't say who), but nobody's death should getmore than a chapter. It's maudlin. It's depressing. It's old.
Even Dobby didn't get more than a chapter, and that was one of the best written death scenes in YA fantasy. It didn't need it, because more than a chapter is maudlin and depressing and all the rest.

The absolute worst part of all of this is that the first two books were excellent and interesting and beautifully done. They are not complete in themselves though, and so can't really be read without the final book. It's like Ms. Roth had this fantastic idea, butdidn't bother to develop the world prior to writing the books, so she just ended up making it up as she went along. I know, it's fiction, and, by definition, made up as she goes along, but she didn't seem to think out the end at the beginning, so the world lacks consistancy, and overwrought scenes of heart-break and radical personality change resulting from said overwrought heartbreak are there to distract us from the knowledge that the Wizard of Oz is just a sad guy behind a curtain. O.K., I'm not sure that analogy works entirely, but I can't think of anything more frustrating than going down this whole road in pursuit of some grand goal only to discover smoke and mirrors and little of substance (O.K., maybe it works as an analogy ).
There is no Wizard at the end of this yellow brick road. There's only road work ahead.

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I can't stop myself

Revisado: 12-11-13

I keep reading these books. Every time a new one comes out, I think, 'I should read something with more redeeming value than this series', and every time, I buy it the day it comes out and consume it in a single sitting (where my work schedule allows). These books are addictive, entertaining, and action packed.
I'm not a huge fan of the narrator, but she doesn't really detract from the books. The stories are hugely fun. Sage is a much better heroine than Rose ever was, and it has been enjoyable following her.
This book begins to allow us to follow Adrain as well. Usually, I dislike the shift in perspective part-way through a series, but here it is good. Adrain is an interesting character, and it is very difficult to really understand and appreciate him and his struggles with mental illness from the outside. Seeing it from his perspective allows us to go through the ups and downs and see why it is both so scary for him to go on the way he his and so hard to get help.
Having said all these wonderful things about this cracktastic series, I have to say: What! You can't leave me with that kind of a cliff-hanger. This is not a TV show where I get the part 2 the next week or even the beginning of the next season. I have to wait for at least a year for the next book. Ms. Mead, you are a sadist.

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We need a better rating system

Revisado: 07-03-13

I don't know if this is intended to be a stand alone, but I will be sad- so sad if it is. I originally read this author with Paranormalcy, which was good, though the subsequent books were lackluster. I thought i'd give it a try anyway. Man was I pleased.
First, the writing. I think Ms. White is a pretty talented writer. She uses several techniques that allow you to get into the ehad of the characters and really feel their pain, and there is a lot of pain in this book. There's a bit in the sample you can listen to that talks about the boy stopping to pet a puppy, to help the puppy, and how the heroine, Sophia, knows she can't kill him after that, and how it ruins her day. You get her, you like her, you sympathize with her in a matter of minutes, even though she is one of the angriest heroines I've come across. The writing also jumps from storyteller- from Fia to her sister Annie, and from time period to time period. This could be disorienting, but it is done so well, that it isn't.
The story line is excellent. There is an epic struggle of good versus evil, and what we will and will not do to fight that evil or simply to survive it. There's guilt and pain and hope wrapped in despair. It's beautifully done.
As an aside, if you happen to have read many of my reviews, you will know that "I'm blind, blind the way Annie is- except for the supernatural stuff- and I truly appreciate the way Annie's blindness is described, her willingness to live in her prison because it is a prison she knows and can, to some extent, control, the way she feels out of control and often a burden and wants to be more. Her hope at the treatments iws heartbreaking. I don't know any blind people- who weren't born blind- who wouldn't give almost anything for that hope, so Annie's willful blindness (metaphorically, of course) to her sister's deep unhappiness to hang on to that hope to the special help she gets that promises to make her just a little more independent, a little less reliant on Fia, it resonates in a way most descriptions of blindness don't. I don't know if the author's blind or friends or family to a blind person, but she makes it more than just some inconvenience or pitiable thing we shouldn't discuss for fear of catching it. I get Annie and everything she does.
The narration was going to bother me, I thought, but I ended up kind of liking it. I might read this narrator again. This is why we need a different ranking system though. She would only get a 3 and 1/2 from me. Otherwise, she is excellent.
If this is the start of a series, which it should be, though I think it stands alone- frustratingly, but sufficiently- I would like to see Eden developed more, and I want the romance handled. I'm old enough that the serious age difference including Fia's age when the thing starts, is a bit creepy.. I get it, don't get me wrong, and Fia isn't young the way most girls her age are, but she is deeply damaged, and if the romance is going to continue, frankly with either of the possible love intests, I'm going to need something to take the ick factor down a couple of notches.
Otherwise, I will buy the next one if there is another and devour it. I even want the same narrator.

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