Posts

Showing posts from December, 2018

Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer

Image
Artemis Fowl   was fun and witty with plenty of action and development to keep the pages turning.  I went to my local library to see if the action and good humor continued in the rest of the series. The Arctic Incident  stepped the game up a notch.  The stakes were higher.  A new villain was born.  Old enemies became new alliances.   Standard spy book stuff.  A bit to human  spy, though.  The magic and fairy essence just seems to be missing from this novel despite it taking place in  the fairy realm.  I was actually quite disappointed. Unfortunately, my library only had up to book two, so I'm not going to see if the series rights itself any time soon.  (I have to hope that it must since it continues on for six more books.) Sorry for such a brief review, I just had such lukewarm feelings.  No hate, but no love either.  Makes for short thoughts.

An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Image
Had quite an odd moment with this novel.  I reached a point in the story where a Bible quote is discussed.  Immediately after my morning read, I watched the funeral for George H. W. Bush where the exact same Bible quote was read.  I have never had reading so relevant to my life.  It was a very eerie day.  But it really highlighted the beauty of Madeleine L'Engle to me. To the book itself...   Polly, the oldest child of Meg and Calvin, is sent to the Murrys farm for the summer to help her education.  There she runs into a fellow she met on a random beach on a vacation in Greece--which is just down right odd.  I know the world is a small place, but it just felt forced in the book. Not only does she run into such an unusual suspect, but she also manages to walk herself right through a tesseract to ancient America.  (Remember those people we read about in ASTP?  They're kind of back.) While I did not like the premise one bit, t he book is certainly filled with excellent dr

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett

Image
This is most commonly cited as grand poobah when I ask people which Discworld novel is their favorite.  I'm not sure why. Now, now--don't pull out the torch and pitchforks just yet.  Terry Pratchett is preeminent in the writing of fantasy satire.  I even rank religious satire at the peak.  I'm just saying I'm not sure why Small Gods  is listed in the coveted number one slot of Discworld novels.  I mean, who doesn't love trumped up turtles?  But even the cute, shelled geniuses can't sway me. The pacing is incredibly slow, however.  It took me forever to read this novel and was honestly sluggish enough I chose to read several other novels before finishing Small Gods .  This is the first book I've struggled to complete in some time, and I was surprised it was a Discworld novel.   We clearly are poking fun at organized religion and its disingenuous past in Small Gods .  It just isn't as well handled as many of Pratchett's other works.  The satire i

Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful by Arwen Elys Dayton

Image
A look at what the future holds.  Or does it?  That is the beauty behind this collection of short stories by Arwen Elys Dayton.  It will make you think and debate about a topic that is very real.  Are we meant for modification?  Where do we draw the line in the sand?  Are humans capable of playing God? You may remember that I reviewed the start of the "Seeker" series from Arwen Elys Dayton a few years ago.  They were an excellent set of young adult fantasies with serious depth of character.  When Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful  hit Netgalley, I had to request a copy.  (You can check out my "Seeker" reviews here and here .) This is not an anthology, but it is a series of short stories.  This novel is a timeline of human evolution.  Each story revolves around a character experiencing our transition from human to something evolved.  Their stories are relative.  Through Reverend Tadd, we even get to see how the human reaction evolves. This book will serious