Midlothien

i love this book 😁

Revisado: 12-04-22

the sequels aren’t as good but are still pretty great too 🙃😊
listen to the short stories!! don’t skip them!

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I so wanted to like this.

Revisado: 05-27-22

The beginning was actually great! I was intrigued and liked the contagious optimism and naivety of the main character. But soon things began to turn.

***SPOILERS BELOW***

As someone who has lived in other countries, including India, I know the challenges of living as a foreigner can be extreme. And I'm sure there have been immigrants that have had terrible experiences to the extremes as these characters, but I don't believe that it's the norm. It began to feel as if Mandvi was an angry and vengeful god submitting his wandering subjects to misery after misery, punishing them for leaving their homelands. I don't need all the stories I read to be happy stories, but at least give the characters a chance for success or happiness. This one felt as if they were doomed and hopeless from the start.

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Keep going, it gets better.

Revisado: 05-27-22

I almost quit listening to this book. I can't really say what it was about it, but it just didn't pull me in. The story was good, it didn't drag. The character was interesting and in sufficient, believable peril. The atmosphere made me curious to know more about the world. The narrator was good--expressive, pleasant to listen to. Just, for some reason, I was bored, and I can't pinpoint why. I pushed through (it took me longer to listen to this 6 hour book than it has some 20+ hour books), and eventually was glad I did. I'm even tempted to listen to the next book in the series (if any are ever written), but then I remember slugging through first four hours and decide against checking.

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Only for a specific audience

Revisado: 05-27-22

I tried to give this book a chance, but quit listening to it pretty quickly. If you want a tawdry, same-sex adventure story with self-destructive characters, then this might be the book for you. It wasn't for me. Granted I didn't get through even one quarter of it, but I just really didn't want to hear any more.

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Tough to listen to, in more ways than one.

Revisado: 03-28-22

Narrator: I rarely give low scores to narrators. I appreciate that there are different approaches to reading each word than I might have chosen. However, this one was hard to pay attention to. She actually did great when reading character lines. Accent and intonation were really good. But when reading narration, her voice was flat and repetitive, making it hard to not tune her out.

Story: the author tries to take us to levels of destitution to show the strength of character that Ree possesses. However, he seems to forget that his character is 17, and the levels of trauma, and the extreme acts the character has to perform to finally get through the crisis would debilitate a real person. For someone to finally perform what Ree needs to do, she is no longer believable as a real, relatable character. She’s not just strong, she’s either inhuman or broken beyond belief.

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I love this series!!

Revisado: 11-26-21

Brandon Sanderson is an amazing author. I’m not quite sure why, but the skyward series really... I don’t know... it does something. I love it. It’s my favorite! However the first book is by far the best. In the series the story is really well thought out and the ending is satisfying, but I had really hoped for more time back on Detritus. The first book gets you in love with the characters and story, and then the second and third books explain the story and idea behind it all beautifully, with much character development and new characters you learn to love too. But the whole time you’re missing the people and the feel from the first book. The second and third books are almost completely outside of Detritus, except for a couple scenes, and one thing I was really looking forward to was watching spensa get reconnected with her home. I wanted to see her time back on Detritus, but you don’t get that. The book ends with almost no time back home. And while the books are amazing and I love them all, from the moment Spin leaves Detritus you and her are both waiting for her to come back, so I was kinda disappointed when the epilogue of book three was all you got when she finally found a way back home. That’s the only thing that I was sad for. Other than that—amazing! Brandon Sanderson is a great writer and I can’t wait for Evershore to come out! I really wanted a novela in Jorgen’s perspective 😊 I’m just really hoping that Evershore at least will be mostly in Detritus, even if we’re not seeing it through spensa’s eyes.
That’s all I’ve got! (The skyward series is really great!!)

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Like the first (or any anthology), a mixed bag.

Revisado: 06-28-21

Overall: 3.5*
Just as I did with the first Unfettered, I’m going to review each story on its own. Overall, I enjoyed the first Unfettered more because there were more stories I could share with my family. This one has more language and more adult themes in sometimes very graphic ways. In general, great narration.

Castle Coeurlieu(by Naomi Novik)
5* Great start. Very imaginative, creative and unusual. Lovable characters, interesting scenes.

A Slow Kill (by Peter Orullian)
5* Might be my favorite story of this collection. I loved how the stories within the story create a nice tapestry. This story clearly took a fair amount of planning.

And Men Will Mine the Mountain of Our Souls (by Seanan McGuire)
3* Very creative, I loved the perspective, but the story just didn’t grab me. It should have as I’ve enjoyed other stories from a similar perspectives, but this one missed for me.

Day One (by Jim Butcher—Dresden Files)
4* For fans of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, this is a win. He is faithful to his almost—but not too much—humorous tone, that makes you feel like the storyteller is winking his eye as he spins his tale. It was fun to get a story within that universe from someone else’s perspective; while—of course—enjoying the cameo from the title character of the series. If you don’t know the series, it’s OK. The story is still fun, dark, and easy to follow.

Brightwine in the Garden of Tsitsian Village (by Bradley P. Beaulieu)
4* Not for the squeamish. It is refreshing to read fantasy set in a different world than medieval Europe (or a close parallel). I enjoyed the character and the plot. However, the juxtaposition between the main character and one of the supporting characters seems to have pushed a bit too hard.

Aokigahara (by John A. Pitts)
3* The story has great promise, and I wanted to like it more, but it felt like some of the transitions were rushed, not all the questions were satisfactorily answered, and the ending didn’t quite satisfy. It was a fun concept to explore, even if artificial worlds are becoming explored more often recently.

The Decoy (by Janny Wurts—Wars of Light and Shadow)
3.5* I remember enjoying this one much more the first time I heard it (about a year ago). This time I struggled to pay attention. I restarted it at least 3 times because I found my attention had drifted before getting 10 minutes in. Granted I was playing disc golf, but I always listen to books while playing. Anyway, some fun twists and unexpected decisions once the story gets going.

The King's Despatcher (by David Farland—Runelords)
4* This story left me curious about the larger world Farland has created. It clearly left a lot unanswered, and was almost more of an introduction to characters than a full story on its own. However, I’ve added the series to my wish-list, so it has served its purpose.

Figures (by Rachel Caine)
1.5* Though this story takes an interesting (though exaggerated) look at growing problems in the real world, as allegory should, it felt like it was using shock just for the sake of being shocking. The extra half-star came from it’s creative story-telling style (all from one side of a conversation), but that’s really all I could give it. The big twist just felt out of place, and another attempt at shock to make a point, but that really only was there to be shocking. It failed to drive the point home.

The Red-Rimmed Eyes of Tou Ma (by Aidan Moher)
4* This was an interesting tale also set in an other-than European Medieval setting. The magic system was interesting and the story had a satisfying resolution.

Magic Beans (by Django Wexler)
2* WARNING: This story is only a little less than an erotic story. The story itself is fun (thus the 2 stars), the writing is engaging, the characters are likable. If you want something like GOT, but a a lot lighter and more humorous, this one is for you. I prefer to not mix porn into my casual reading/listening. Definitely can’t share this one with my kids.

The Hedgewitch (by Sarah Beth Durst—The Queens of Renthia)
5* This is the other story that contends with being my favorite. Naturally, I have added the series to my wishlist. It is a great coming-of-age/genesis story that left me wanting to find out what happens. The world clearly has much more to offer, with the ever-present danger yielding great potential for many more stories.

Victim with a Capital V (by Scott Sigler)
3.5* I didn’t like this story much at first, but it grew on me. It felt like one of the characters in particular was presented as being awful through behavior what was more shocking than was actually necessary. Sure we need to establish character, but it needs to be believably bad, not just the worst thing we can think of. However, the underlying theme of the story is important. The post-apocalyptic setting allows Sigler to explore this subject in a way other fiction couldn’t

A Duel of Evils or The Fall of Kethia (by Anthony Ryan—Raven’s Shadow)
1* Perhaps if I was familiar with the bigger story, or knew some of the characters, this might have been more interesting. As it is, it seems to be presented as—and, indeeds reads like—a history report. Many cultures, countries, religions, battles, and generals are described in a very academic format. It reminded me of when I read The Histories by Herodotus or writings by Josephus, though those are interesting for the relevance to ancient history and to see some of the perspectives that ancients believed. This story/report, being set apart from anything I know, failed to interest me.

The Raven (by Erin Lindsey—Bloodbound)
4* This was a fascinating tragedy and coming-of-age story. I enjoyed the developing relationship of the brothers and think it would have made a great novella. In fact, that’s the only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars, I felt like I was missing too much of the story. I added the first book of this series to my wish list too, so hopefully I’ll be gratified then.

Bulletproof (by Mark Lawrence—Gunlaw)
3.5* This one was fun and worth listening to. But it did have a lot going on in a little bit of time, especially with a lot of races introduced. It’s kind of like jumping right into the cantina scene in SW Episode IV. You would have no context in which to place everything you’re experiencing. As the story goes, things do start to fall into place, and the story is intriguing.

The Gunnie (by Charlaine Harris)
5* This is an interesting cross-over between post-apocalyptic and Western (seems to be an easy and effective combo). This story proves you can have terrible villains who do terrible things without just using shock for shock’s sake. I love the protagonist and was excited to discover there is a series based on her. Another added to my wishlist.

Little Wren and the Big Forest (by Michael J. Sullivan)
4.5* I loved the Ririya Revelations so was excited to read this submission by Sullivan. Though it is in the same world of the books, it is not connected. It is a fun exploration of another event in the First Empire. When well done, as Sullivan does here, it is enjoyable to read a story from a new perspective. This one is from the perspective of a young girl. Both the adventure and the conclusion are believable and engaging.

The Thrill (by Brandon Sanderson—Stormlight Archive)
5* Sanderson is my favorite contemporary author as he rarely fails to provide incredible stories, fascinating characters, and impossible to guess twists and surprises. Be aware, that if you read this before reading Oathbringer, this story will be a little bit of a spoiler. Similar to the style of the Lost TV show, each book in the Archive explores the backstory of one of the principle characters. This submission is a collection of some of the scenes strategically revealed in Oathbringer. Of course, the novel goes much further and is a true work of art. This one does refer to a little bit of the fantastical elements of this world (shardblades, shardplate, and spren), but I don’t think anyone who is unfamiliar will be lost.

The Last Flowers of the Spring Witch (by Shawn Speakman)
4* This was just good fantasy. It didn’t really stand out to me as anything truly different or special, but sometimes that’s nice. I enjoyed the story and the characters. I don’t know if it’s the one I would have chosen to end with for that reason, but it was a safe choice.

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Warning! Not for the Faint of Heart.

Revisado: 02-12-20

This story is a bare-all, honest gritty account of how the Behavioral Science Unit of the FBI got up and running. It includes plenty of stories of catching serial killers, but doesn't steal the glory entirely for the author. He honestly and respectfully gives credit to the many others involved in actually, physically hunting down and catching the ne'er-do-wells. Be warned, though: in his honesty some very grisly, shocking details are shared. If you can't handle rated R movies that are rated so for gore, don't read this book. If you can get past that to appreciate the work these heroes have done to help protect society, then this book could be for you.

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Fun, not as ridiculous as expected.

Revisado: 02-12-20

So it took me a little while to come to grips with what this story was. From the premise (a genie from a sardine can) and title, I expected it to be just a ridiculous story with nothing to take too seriously (Alcatraz Vs. the Evil Librarians). However, there is an actual serious story going on, with some actual serious themes for children. Once I understood what the story was, I really enjoyed it.

This is a fun story to share with your children, and open up some big discussions like bullying, orphans, anger, revenge, friendship, etc. Just don't go into it expecting hilarity around every corner. There are plenty of moments that will make you laugh, but it's balanced with moments to make you think and to engage you in the serious undertones of the story.

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Refreshing perspective, dignifying those studied.

Revisado: 01-22-20

This book on neurology/psychology is fascinating. It illuminates many challenges faced by patients that I had not encountered before. It is a bit dated, one must reserve judgment for some terms that are now considered politically incorrect. The author clearly means no offense with the terms, rather is using them clinically to describe a condition. There are parts of the book that are a bit technical and dry. If you are studied in the field, they are still interesting; if not, skip to the next chapter.

What I most appreciate about this book is that it doesn't merely focus on what individuals have lost or on their disability. Many times, Sacks describes what the individuals have gained. This perspective honors the individuals being discussed and brings them dignity, rather than just treating them as cases.

Davis is masterful in his reading of what could be dry, stale case studies. He breathes life into the author's words, capturing the passion Sacks clearly feels about his work and his patients/friends.

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