Review: The Armored Saint

The Armored Saint by Myke Cole
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This interesting fantasy book is a melding of medieval life, the Inquisition, gnomish mechanics via World of Warcraft, with a satisfying sprinkling of classic Dungeon and Dragon's lore. The subplot of our heroine's lesbian attraction for her friend and the background story of a homosexual ranger-wizard's lost lover combined made me feel that the book was a little pandering toward the LGBTQ community. It would have been my personal preference to focus on one gay love story, but to have both plus the dramatic, movie-of-the-week lecture of being allowed to freely love who you love seemed a bit mawkish.
To be clear, I quite enjoyed the presence of an LGBTQ storyline in a medieval fantasy. I just think it could have been written with more finesse by focusing on one relationship, and leaving the lecture on freedom of love out. The storyline should draw those thoughts out of the reader; not tell the audience what to think word-for-word.
The storyline felt plausible, given that so much of what happened in the book has already happened in real life with religious fanaticism, political turmoil, classicism, poverty, shaming of homosexuals, etc.

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Review: Educated

Educated by Tara Westover
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This searing non-fiction tale of family lost, found and lost again is nearly sublime for its prose and unflinchingly honest understanding of its own inadequacies and the humanity of its protagonist. It's a punishingly hard-look at how mental illness in a family can be spread like a disease over generations and will leave no one its wake untouched. Dr. Westover's triumph is hard-won and comes at a cost. The organization of the story was sharp and well-paced.

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Review: Children of Blood and Bone

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was intrigued by the refreshing plotline yet the slightly trite nature of its unfolding underwhelmed me. Some lines sounded like they were borrowed from an assembly line of heroic movies. The heroine also kept making unrealistic choices, as if she were a robot hell-bent on creating drama. However, the ideas shows imagination and promise. Although I won't likely be reading the series, I do wish this writer continued success for bringing variety to the genre.

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Review: Sea Prayer

Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's a little unfair, possibly, for me to include a picture book as part of my reading challenge this year. But let me explain. It was because of the dog.

I had the dog with me in the car. We were leaving her vet appointment. To be time-efficient, I was also going to return books to our local library, which in passing memory, boasted a drop-in slot for a drive-thru book return. Awesome. It's super hot, I don't want to get the dog nor I out of the air-conditioned car for a second.

I drove through. What? The slot is locked? I pressed a useless buzzer to no avail. Forced to park and exit the car, I then began to worry that some SPCA spy would see me leave the dog in the car. I carefully made a big deal about opening the windows (which I would do, regardless of SPCA fears), and hurried into the library. The return book spot is almost half-way in at the library. At that point, I am now near the 'current books we recommend' shelf. DANG IT. I start to grab books, where I usually browse and take my time, but the dog is in the car, and I don't want her to swelter any longer than necessary. I snatched a variety of books, and this one was included. I had no time to complain about the forbidden dropbox but simply slid my books through the automatic check out table, and left.

That being said, this is a beautiful book, and it is more of a protest poem than a picture book. The drawings are haunting and the real story that it is based upon, the death of a three-year-old Syrian boy who died with his father, who was trying to escape a war-torn country by boat, is moving and thought-provoking.


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Review: This World We Live In

This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was very intrigued by the premise and the hints of the past scientific anomalies which created this past-future disaster. The writing was very good at the beginning. I sometimes like dystopian stories and this held good promise.

But it started to feel rushed and oddly slapped together at the middle-end, starting with our heroine Miranda's falling in love with Alex. It was too quick and convenient. Miranda's character was charmingly realistic, and I had the impression she was a middle schooler with her inward groans and outward arguments with her mother and brothers. Yet, her gruff charm turning into ferocious love-starved teen was a leap beyond my expectations. There was no slow growth and development. It was weird that young men and women of nearly the same age all met at the same time to fall in love with each other - Miranda, Alex; Julie and Jon; and Matt and Syl. Three love stories in one book? I supposed it's possible but it felt too clunky. The religious moments felt contrived, and a lost opportunity to become full-fledged foil within the storyline. The character I most liked was the mother because she felt the most realistic. She was self-sacrificing, sexist, tired, and focused on keeping her family together. The scene where she is dazed among the ruins of her house after a tornado was a little tiresome, "we keep the family together", etc. Her ex-husband's (Miranda's dad) cheerful near-giddy arrival and his wife with her bemoaning the potential loss of her friend Julie to a convent (yes, it's a part of the story) were weird. Syl, Matt's insta-wife, was the most unexplored character who went from mystery girl survivalist to strong, gritty realist in a blink of an eye.

I DO like the dramatic and unexpected ending. Spoiler alert: Miranda ends up murdering the sister of Alex, since Julie, the sister, had a terrible spine injury, and faced the rest of life being carried around everywhere. Miranda didn't quite explain her motivation, but it felt like a mercy killing. She hides this information and everyone assumes (for now) that Julie had died in her sleep, likely due to internal injuries. Miranda realistically closes with she may have to tell Alex one day. I liked that chilling little end. The beginning and end are the best parts of the book.

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Review: The Line Tender

The Line Tender by Kate Allen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a well-thought-out book, written with near-poetic grace and sensitivity. This novel is centered on the life of a young girl who is coping with the death of her mother, a woman whose scientific work studying sharks creates the unifying motifs of the sea, sharks and water throughout the story. Lucy, on the cusp of discovering first love, experiences another tragic loss. The characters of her father, their widowed neighbor and her father's friend Sookie are tightly written, and while not as dynamic as Lucy's development throughout the story, these three men create their intriguing storylines.

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Review: A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder

A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is quite the charmer. It was like what if Downtown Abbey's Lady Mary Crawley had become a detective? I loved that twist of the usual mystery book.

The female empowerment theme was satisfying as were the details of the glorious intricacies of high society in Victorian England, and how it would be more likely to murder a sister-in-law than ruin her reputation because a ruined reputation would affect the whole family.

The twist at the end was a bright spot, as I actually didn't see it coming. It was overall a very satisfying read.

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Review: The Armored Saint

The Armored Saint by Myke Cole
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This interesting fantasy book is a melding of medieval life, the Inquisition, gnomish mechanics via World of Warcraft, with a satisfying sprinkling of classic Dungeon and Dragon's lore. The subplot of our heroine's lesbian attraction for her friend and the background story of a homosexual ranger-wizard's lost lover combined made me feel that the book was a little pandering toward the LGBTQ community. It would have been my personal preference to focus on one gay love story, but to have both plus the dramatic, movie-of-the-week lecture of being allowed to freely love who you love seemed a bit mawkish.
To be clear, I quite enjoyed the presence of an LGBTQ storyline in a medieval fantasy. I just think it could have been written with more finesse by focusing on one relationship, and leaving the lecture on freedom of love out. The storyline should draw those thoughts out of the reader; not tell the audience what to think word-for-word.
Overall, the storyline felt very plausible, given that so much of what happened in the book has already happened in real life with religious fanaticism, political turmoil, classicism, poverty, shaming of homosexuals, etc. The entire plot was very believable, with the exception of demons. Well, ones we can see anyway.
I would read the next book because the heroine is engaging and powerful.

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Review: All the Light We Cannot See

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Anthony Doerr's story of the experiences of a young German soldier and a blind French girl is nuanced, multi-layered; it is told with deft and skillful prose. These two individuals have their own views of the war, shaped by their circumstances, as they each survive the onslaught of social and political turmoil in their separate countries. In fact, for most of the novel, these two do not even meet. This is not a romance novel, though romance is involved; this is not a retelling of World War II's strategies and outcomes, though that is the background. This is a poignant tale of the complexity of our human existence, our connections with others. The German soldier is not evil. The blind girl is not wise. It is a soulful dance of life in all its shades of gray.

I was advised once that Hitler engaged the youth of his country at a time when people were hungry, and his promise of a chicken in every pot was remarkably effective. This approach is a part of the story, and it will give you an insight into the machinery of war.

This novel will dispell any Hollywood formulaic preconception you might have had.

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Review: The Widow

The Widow by Fiona Barton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked this book up in an airport, prior to a nine-hour flight. As the cover states, it was "engrossing", "suspenseful" and I was overall entertained by the plot.

The story is told through different viewpoints which made it a little confusing. I should have made a note of the events on a bookmark. That would have helped. However, it wasn't a dealbreaker.

The story revolves around the marriage of a man and a woman and how it slowly comes apart. the husband is accused of kidnapping a little girl. There is the abduction of a child, pornography, suggestion of child molestation, neighbors who mean well but who abandon the couple toward the end. The unreliable narration is provided by the wife, but it's unreliable because SHE is near her breaking point. It's not because of any fault of the writer. I wondered if the wife was slowly becoming insane. That actually made it interesting for me, watching and wondering if she was seeing things are they really are or if she was seeing things as she wished them to be.

The ending was not a complete surprise but there was a touch of "Oh, really?" as I thought it was going in a different direction.

It's a satisfying summer read.

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