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Book Reviews - Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction - By an Adult for Adults

Fast Moving YA Fiction Alfred Kropp: The Seal of Solomon Review

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I’ve had a busy week reading four fast moving, fun books.  It’s fun to read books with interesting characters, intriguing backgrounds and speed of light plots.  Of the four this week Alfred Kropp: The Seal of Solomon was the most intriguing and fast moving.

I reviewed the first book, The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp, here in this blog post:  Review: The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp YA Fiction Rick Yancey.  The Seal of Solomon is the second book in the series.  The third book, Alfred Kropp: The Thirteenth Skull is reviewed here.

Alfred has landed with a couple who are professional foster parents. They have a small house, several foster kids, almost no discipline and less attention or care. After Alfred’s stint on the Most Wanted list he faces even more nasty tricks from his high school classmates. When beautiful blond, tanned Ashley shows up at school and wants to be his friend Alfred falls fast.

Ashley is an operative for OIPEP who saves Alfred from a killer and delivers him to Operative Nine who needs Alfred – badly. A renegade OIPEP agent stole Solomon’s seal and the vessel containing demons from hell and it’s up to Alfred, Ashley, Operative Nine to put stop him from setting the demons free. They fail. Demons are loose and on the hunt for Alfred. They want to control the seal and the vessel and need Alfred to help. In hindsight I’m not sure why they needed Alfred and no one else, but it made for a great story.

Alfred figures out how to trick the demons and once more saves the world. Along the way he inherits tons of money which makes his professional foster parents determined to forcibly draft him into adoption.

Alfred Kropp: The Seal of Solomon is noteworthy for the intricate and interesting backdrop to the story. Who is Operative Nine and why does he have the authority he does. Why is renegade agent Mike so determined to kill Alfred. What would it be like to work for OIPEP. What will the demons do when they control the world.

Those questions swirled around in my mind but only as a footnote to the real questions about Alfred. He is an amazing person, able to ignore the constant nastiness at home and school, determined to grow and to do the right thing. He is believable, the character we all inwardly feel we are – bumbling, not too swift, and somehow responsible for far more than what we want.

Alfred Kropp: The Seal of Solomon had excellent dialogue, a fun, super charged plot, fascinating back story, interesting characters. I highly recommend it. Like the other Alfred Kropp books this is characterized as YA fiction, aimed squarely at 12-18 year old boys, but it’s good enough for adults to enjoy.

Review: The Forest of Hands and Teeth YA Fantasy Fiction Zombies

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The Forest of Hands and Teeth is a popular dystopia set in a post zombie apocalypse world.  The book started out interesting and I found myself almost caring for the characters, but about a quarter through it suddenly went flat.  I lost interest and had to force myself to read further.

I ended up skimming through the last half or so.  I was curious how it ended but not engaged enough to waste more time reading.  The main character, Mary, didn’t make a lot of sense to me.  She didn’t seem to know what she wanted; true, many people never learn that.  But in a book we expect the characters to somehow deal with this.  Mary did not.

The other thing that was just plain stupid was that the world outside the small community was overrun with zombies.  Yet the Sisterhood claimed that no one else existed beyond their small group.  That makes no sense.  If the only source for new zombies was the small contingent inside the community, then how did the zombies outside continue or even increase in number so many years after the apocalypse?

The Forest of Hands and Teeth is being made into a movie and there are sequels. I did not care for the book, but many readers love it. It may appeal to girls in the 15-20 age group.

1 Star.

Review: Dragon’s Bait YA Fantasy, False Accusations, Dragons, Vivian Vande Velde

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Dragon’s Bait by Vivian Vande Velde is listed for 12 year olds and may appeal to the pre-teen and young teen girls because the protagonist Alys is the well-meaning victim of her greedy neighbors.  The neighbors accuse her of witchcraft, find a corrupt priest to find her guilty and soon she is tied to a stake for the dragon to devour.

Of course Alys is innocent and the dragon is Selendrile, a young dragon able to change into a young man who is willing to help her get revenge.  Selendrile first sounds like he’s ambivalent about revenge, but he soon takes charge of Alys and her quest.  The book has a couple interesting moments, and occasional hints of humor such as when Alys and Selendrile reach the town to deal with the churchman judge who condemned Alys.

Overall I did not like this.  It was understandable that Alys would like to reclaim her place, but that she would try to get her neighbor’s daughter condemned as a witch for revenge was far-fetched.  Really?  Alys is suffering since she now has no home and no real chance to establish herself.  But to try and make someone else suffer the same way?  Why would we want to read about someone this mean and selfish?

If nothing else the complete lack of a moral dilemma made this book ring hollow to me.  I read the whole thing in a short evening and finished it feeling more and more distaste for Alys, Selendrile and all the other characters.  They were not interesting and did not feel like real people, and were all one dimensional, nasty, the sort you feel the author ordered from the local character-take-out-joint.

The dialogue was boring, poorly done, stilted.  The dragon Selendrile has no motivation to help Alys and at the end of the book, when he offers to take Alys to his home, we simply are lost.  There is no reason, no future, and frankly, I did not care.

I do not recommend this.  The reviewers on Amazon gave this high marks, but I cannot rate it above a 2 out of 5.

Review: The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp YA Fiction Rick Yancey

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Take a good look at the picture on the cover.

Sword. Chunky kid. Untied shoelace. What do you think?

Yes, the hero in The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp is a kid. Yes, he has King Arthur’s Excalibur. Yes, the villains are after him.

No. He is not a nerd, nor wimpy, nor skinny nor does he wear glasses. What he is, is an orphan with a very large head, a big husky body, not super clever, not college-bound, and he plays football only because he has to. The entire book is full of surprises like this. We have scenes that you just know how they will proceed – but then they don’t.  You have a character who seems miscast as a hero – until he becomes one.  You have ambiguous characters – until they reveal themselves.  I thoroughly enjoyed The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp. I loved the character Alfred Kropp, loved the plot, the fast pace, the on-going mystery of the ambiguous super secret organization OIPEP.

This is a very fast read; I finished in one evening, then ran downstairs to get the sequel on my Nook.  The book combines a fun read with some serious introspection on the part of a fifteen year old self-described screw up kid.  Alfred knows he will goof and make the wrong decision but he keeps on going, determined to set right what he caused to go wrong.  Yes, there is some coming-of-age in this book; after all you can’t avoid that when dealing with a teen protagonist.  But the coming of age is well done and just sort of happens along the way.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp is classified as YA fiction since Alfred is fifteen. No doubt boys will especially enjoy this but girls and adults will too.

I highly recommend this.

Review: Ranger’s Apprentice Book One: The Ruins of Gorlan John Flanagan

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The Ruins of Gorlan, Ranger’s Apprentice Book 1 is listed as YA fantasy. Will, the hero is 15 years old, small and scrawny, an orphan raised as the ward of Baron Arald, lord of Redmont fief, along with 4 others his age.  Ever year wards that turn 15 must choose – and be chosen – by one of the castle craft masters who then assume responsibility for their new apprentice.

Will wants to be a knight but is rejected from Battle School due to his size. The Ranger Halt accepts him and begins his training which includes how to move unnoticed, archery and field craft. Rangers are a cross between the spies of the kingdom, couriers and advisers.

Will of course proves himself many times, showing bravery, smarts, ethics, honor and ability. At the end of the story he is offered the chance to join the Battle School and train as a knight, but decides to continue as a ranger.

The Ruins of Gorlan could have been formulaic but it is something more than our usual coming of age/fantasy story. Will is a real character, well drawn and interesting. True, we don’t feel like we would recognize him if we met, but for a 200 page juvenile fantasy the characterization is excellent. Halt and even Will’s old fellow ward Horace are also well crafted. A few minor characters are a bit on the flimsy side, but perfectly well done for a short book aimed at younger readers.

Best of all, The Ruins of Gorlan does not read like a book for kids. The ideas and language are perfectly enjoyable for adults who want a fast read that’s enjoyable and fun.

I expect most teens and pre-teens would enjoy this. The character is fun, the plot moves and the setting, especially the plain with the Stone Flutes, was great. The story moves right to the final action where Will, with the Baron, Sir Rodney and Halt confront the monstrous Kalkara. Will takes the decisive action, but it was hinted earlier and used his wits rather than his brawn, perfectly fitting the book.

The Ruins of Gorlan is listed as Book One of the Ranger’s Apprentice series and now (April, 2013) there are eleven books in the series with book twelve near release.

I recommend this one.

4 Stars

Review: Crewel Dystopian Fantasy Genniffer Albin Crewel World

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Crewel is dystopian with a young heroine in a world where women must fit tiny, narrow roles.  Our heroine, Adelice, has a rare talent to manipulate the form of her world and has been forcibly enlisted as a Spinster.

We don’t quite see how the Crewel world works until quite late in the story.  The first part of Crewel is taken up with Adelice being hauled out of the escape tunnel her parents built in their basement, then punished for attempting to run, and finally being brought into the training group.

Spinsters are the female leaders who use their unusual abilities to touch and manipulate the world via looms. They are not allowed to marry and are forbidden any sexual activities due to stringent purity laws. The Guild leaders are men who govern and decide. Guild is dependent on the Spinsters to keep Arras functional, but the men are careful to not allow the women power or control.

Adelice has love interests in two young men but since she has had zero exposure to men she doesn’t quite know what to think about them. She is intrigued but fears the retribution should she be discovered in a compromising scene.

About two thirds through the book Adelice learns that Arras is truly woven above and separate from Earth, separated during a time when war threatened and leaders of twelve countries decided to set up the separate world. It is not clear exactly how Arras works. It is physical, with special Thread that forms the physical reality and individual people. Yet it is connected somehow to Earth.

The Creweler – and there is only one – is able to create new Threads and to use Thread to create new places within Arras. The current Creweler is old and wants no part of further renewals.

Adelice is appalled when she learns that the Threads that represent individual people can be cleaned, or even remapped. People who have memories that threaten the Guild or illness or are rebellious or inconvenient are either Cleaned or if severe, Ripped. Adelice learns a new technique to Remap individuals has much promise to leave most of the person’s skills intact. Even worse. Adelice has questioned once too often. Now she faces Remapping.

Adelice has to choose whether to take up her assigned role as the next Creweler, to be Remapped, or to somehow escape. Escape seems impossible. Is it?

Crewel is shown as the first book in the new series Crewel World and ends on a cliffhanger.

3 Stars

Review: Flowers – A Collection of Dark Fiction Scott Nicholson, Short Stories

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Flowers by Scott Nicholson contains ten short stories that are labeled as “dark fiction”.

I liked the first story, “The Vampire Shortstop” the best. The characters were good and the plot was excellent. Short stories must make their point quickly and move on and “Vampire Shortstop” touches on acceptance, toleration, importance of winning vs. fair play and sportsmanship. We don’t learn much about the kid vampire who plays shortstop on a Little League team except that baseball matters and he’s really good at it. The story is narrated through the eyes of the team coach.

“Scarecrow Boy” is the only story that is truly horror. A young teen is living with his grandfather on a small farm and is terrified of the scarecrow that stalks him. We learn he was wise to fear the scarecrow, too bad he wasn’t wise enough to latch the gate!

“Invisible Friend” and “In the Heart of November” feature best friends Margaret and Ellen. Ellen lives in a trailer park with her mom and Margaret lives in her graveyard. Both stories are good but neither made a deep impression on me.

“Thirst”, “The Night the Wind Died”, “Luminosity” and “The Boy Who Saw Fire” all use the same magic theme, that it is by human (human like anyway) efforts that the rains fall, the wind blows, the moon rises and the sun sets. These all were reasonably good, enjoyable reads.

I was intrigued that Flowers features young characters – except the baseball coach everyone is in their early teens – yet is not classified as “Young Adult”. All too often excellent books with themes and ideas that appeal to adults are misclassified as “YA Fiction” because the characters are young.

I will look for more by Scott Nicholson.

3 Stars

Couldn’t Finish These – Den of Thieves and Taming Fire – Fantasy Novels

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Have you ever had a book that you know is supposed to be good but you just can’t get into it?  These two books both came up in Amazon’s “Customers who bought this item also bought” which works for me about half the time.  Sadly these two both fell in the “didn’t work” half.

Den of Thieves: The Ancient Blades Trilogy: Book One struck me as trite. The main character is a thief in a city where thieves are executed and set in a land where a poor man is fair game for enslavement.

We all know how these books go, don’t we: Boy steals something he shouldn’t which kicks off a series of adventures and misadventures. That’s the plot here. I could see that the book could be good if I were able to get into it or was more in the mood. Or something.

Maybe part of the trouble is this is the first book in a trilogy. Sometimes authors take way too long to set up the story. All I know is I got to about page 50 and took it back to the library.

The second book, Taming Fire (The Dragonprince Trilogy, Vol. 1), has a more unusual premise and parts were quite good. The hero is the son of a now-dead thief, who hired himself as a shepherd to a noble. He taught himself to use a sword and knows a few small magics. A wizard finds him and takes him to the academy.

Yes this book has more promise and was far more interesting. Now that I think about it, maybe I’ll keep this one home a few more days and try once more to get past page 20.

Update:  Nope, still couldn’t get into Taming Fire.

Review: The Girl Who Chased the Moon, Sarah Addison Allen

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I don’t know how to categorize The Girl Who Chased the Moon.  Is it fantasy?  Romance?  Coming of age?  It’s all of these.  Sarah Addison Allen also wrote The Sugar Queen and Garden Spells, both also hard to classify.

This is an excellent book, a fast read with memorable characters and just enough plot twists to keep it moving.

All of Ms.Allen’s books are set in southern small towns; all include characters who took a wrong turn somewhere and need to come back and fix it. And all include a dose of fantasy. The Girl Who Chased the Moon includes fantastical wallpaper that changes to match the moods of the girl who lives in the room. There are strange lights that glow on moonlit nights and a continuing sense of things being just a bit awry. Our characters work through the novel to reset those things.

One thing I love about her books is that they have happy endings. No, not everything is perfectly resolved and you can peek around the corner to see that Emily will have the usual high school senior moments, that Stella needs to find her center, that Sawyer and Julia have work to do. But the characters are happy. They found peace and mended the broken relationships.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon has four main characters, Julia and Sawyer, Emily and Win. They have tangled histories, connected through their families. The back stories are left shrouded until the end of the book although we see pieces earlier.

It is this history that must be untangled and set upright. The minor characters are excellent: Stella, Julia’s landlord and friend; Morgan, Win’s father, Vance, Emily’s very tall grandfather, Beverly who is Julia’s rapacious ex stepmother. All are important and all feel like real people. You end up caring about them as much (or more) as about the main characters.

Ms. Allen knows her small town South. She shows the sense of place that is so important to the characters. Not only the geographical place, but the place within the society, the relationships that follow generations. I have never lived in the south but I feel like I have after reading her novels.

I highly recommend The Girl Who Chased the Moon and give it Five Stars.

I got my copy from the library. You can purchase copies of The Girl Who Chased the Moon at Amazon and at Barnes and Nobleicon.  The links in the post go to Amazon and pay commission.

Review: Her Royal Spyness Drawing Room Comedy Mystery Rhys Bowen

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Her Royal Spyness should have had it all:  Cute premise, 1930s setting in upper (way upper) class England, murder mystery, likable heroine.  For some reason I could not get into it.  I stuck it out and managed to finish but the book dragged for me until about page 100, then it slowly picked up and managed to lumber home.

The reviews on Amazon were enthusiastic and Amy Peveto highly recommended this on her Bookzilla blog. So why didn’t it work for me??

The main character Lady Georgiana, aka Georgie, a minor member of the British royal family, wants to set her own life, away from her penny pinching sister in law, away from her family’s drafty, cold castle and most definitely, away from the cold suitor hand picked by her cousin’s wife, Her Majesty.

Sad fact is girls in her class – especially royal family members however minor – did not do that in the 1930s. It simply Was Not Done.  Despite the problems, Georgie is completely broke and needs cash now.  She manages to start a business opening homes and doing light cleaning while living in her family’s equally cold and drafty London mansion. That’s a cute premise and the book should have, could have been loads of fun.   The romance part of the book worked better than the mystery, with Georgie overcoming somewhat predictable problems.

Maybe part of the problem was Rhys Bowen took so long to establish the setting, characters and backstory. Her Royal Spyness is the first in a series that has at least four newer novels.

All in all, I’ll give this 3 Books. Cute, nice but just missed the mark.