Sunday, November 20, 2011

A Couple Lesser-Known Dystopians

This is my favorite genre at the moment, so sometimes I like to explore a little. Here are some of my reviews for a few dystopians that aren't bestsellers at the moment.

The Water WarsThe Water Wars by Cameron Stracher

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Technically, I didn't read this cover-to-cover, but since I basically skimmed what I didn't read, I'd figured I go ahead and mark it as read. Especially since I think being forced to skim should be part of the rating. I was interested in the book at the beginning. But...well, it just stayed mildly interesting. And then it became odd. It went to several, totally different locations, where each time, Vera seemed juuuust about to die, and then some crazy incident would happen to save her, or some random strangers would rescue her, or a helicopter would descend from nowhere...it was just ridiculous. Too many coincidences. And her logic for chasing Kai around--how she figured out where to go--didn't always make sense. I don't know, mainly, it felt like a good idea that didn't know what to do with itself. Decent read, if you can get past the fact that it doesn't seem very realistic.


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AwakenAwaken by Katie Kacvinsky

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I'm only going to a do a short-and-sweet review for this one. Essentially, it was enjoyable--well written, an interesting message, and a good romance for those of us who like a little romance mixed in with our dystopians. However, the message part of the book was extremely blunt, so just be aware that the political message is going to be very in-your-face. However, after I accepted that the author had a message, I got over it and found the book enjoyable anyway. I would have liked the political side to be a little more subtle, but it didn't really detract from the book too much. I almost preferred it being put right out there instead of sneakily added through a back door.


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Thursday, November 3, 2011

Pile O' Furniture

So, as I prepare to move in to an apartment (eventually/maybe/one day/hopefully...) I've been slowly collecting things. This set of furniture I received from my grandmother. Whose mother owned it when she was a child. So it's old, and ok-quality, but it wasn't the best-made furniture of the time. Since I wasn't a fan of the cream enamel and gold trim coloring, I had to think of something else. Stripping didn't work, because the pain was enamel. Therefore, I decided to re-paint. Before re-painting though, I had to clean, and strip.




I also had to peel off the nasty old drawer paper. It was sticky and I think mouses nested in it and the color was fading/running, so there was no choice. I used the stripper to loosen it up. Hint to anyone stripping furniture: DO NOT get to excited when you start pulling this paper off. The contact paper pulled out so quickly it flung some not-dried stripper into my eyes, and I went running through the house, freaking out and dousing my eyes in water. I was okay int he end, but it was nooooot fun,e specially because my eyes kept burning slightly...I was truly terrified for a moment, thought I was going to go blind because of my stupidity.  Fun times.



Yeah, who knew this could be so dangerous?
 First finished product (couldn't paint the top because of the surface...I mean, I can scrub paint off of it even after it's dried).















This one is semi-finished, but I sort of like the contrast of the cream and brown. I've been trying to decide if I want to leave it like this (and so do the vanity-desk the same way) or If I want to go ahead and paint everything brown, leaving those white tops and the gold-cream-antinque-ish handles the way they are. Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Enclave: A Dystopian Review

Enclave (Razorland, #1)Enclave by Ann Aguirre

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Deuce's dystopian world is grimy, underground, dark, and real. The characters are gritty and the rules are harsh, but it makes sense since you can tell times are tough. This book had a lot of elements that reminded me of other stories I've read, but in a good way. It didn't feel like it was a copycat, it just felt like the underground world made sense. Her group of people were rigid and rule-bound while some of the other underground villages were much less so. Some of those living underground adapted to the dark, and some turned into Freaks (still not sure where these gory Freaks came from, maybe a mutant virus?). I loved the interactions, characters, and storyline that was developing underground. I was also a huge fan of Fade, her obvious love interest.

But then she went up top. First of all, I feel like above ground should have been saved for a second book, because the situation/problems were completely different. But then again, I probably would have then given this second book a much lower rating. We barely got time to know the characters, and I was constantly annoyed with Deuce. Another male character is introduced in this above-ground section, named Stalker, and he's set up to be a sort of rival for Fade. I understand she feels a bond with his brutal sensibilities since she wanted to be cold and calculating as a Huntress underground...but...as a reader, I just couldn't like him. And I started to dislike her for her treatment of Fade at that point.

Basically, expect a really awesome start and s a sort of slow finish. It's still pretty well written and a fairly easy read (heck, I read it in a day). I just have hopes that the next book will be more along the lines of the underground part of this book.


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Monday, September 26, 2011

Edda

Edda (Epic #3)Edda by Conor Kostick

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I'm a huge fan of the first two books, so I was thrilled when I was able to finally get a hold of this one. The story gives us a chance to look back at the characters from previous books (Cindella, Ghost, Milan, etc.) as well as new characters. The main new character, Penelope, is human, but has grown up in the game world.

This book is sort of a tying-together of all the threads. We found out how the various game worlds intersect, what has happened to humans and game characters in other worlds, and all the characters' story lines are brought to a fairly satisfying conclusion. It is a rather neat wrap-up, but it's sort of nice to have that satisfying ending occasionally.

The main reason I give this four instead of five stars like the other books is that I think I missed the one-character focus. As much as I enjoyed seeing Cindella and Ghost again, they weren't in that stage of self-discovery that they were experiencing in their own books. And I think that's what I really enjoyed about those books. Penelope is going through that, but we only get about half (and possibly less) of the book with her; I actually wanted more of her storyline/ for her to have more of the action.

Still, it's very well-written and an enjoyable, fast read. I admittedly ended up putting off some other books I was reading when I got this because I couldn't put this one down.


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Saturday, August 20, 2011

A review of Temeraire

Another review up! And soon to come, pictures of my furniture project!

Tongues of Serpents: A Novel of TemeraireTongues of Serpents: A Novel of Temeraire by Naomi Novik

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I've noticed this book has received a lot of bad reviews, so I feel like something I should point out is that I think, based on my reading at least, that it is being reviewed in comparison to the other books. Well of course, you might say, but considering how amazing I thought the first books were, this book just had an unfortunately high standard to live up to.

And it's not that the book was badly written (although I had a little more trouble with the formal dialogue than I had before; Laurence tends to become slightly incoherent when he's angry), it's just that this book's adventures aren't as fast-paced as some of the other books, and the cultures not explored as thoroughly. I understand why so much time was spent on the journey through Australia since a lot of the group dynamics changed. But if this book was less adventure-focused, I would have liked to see the native culture explored a little more, the way it was when Temeraire was in China. When the book was done, I still had a lot of unanswered questions, and it seemed like it just sort of stuttered to a halt; there was no sense of satisfaction at a storyline being completed.

It is still a good book, especially in its focus on Laurence's struggle with being exiled for treason and how this affects Temeraire and Laurence's relationship. I think that's one of the things this book did excellently; it really went even deeper into their characters, morals, and values. The drawback is that it just doesn't have the same feel as the other books. However, if you're a Temeraire fan, I still say it's a must read, and you'll probably still enjoy reading it, even if its\'s not quite as exciting as the other books in the series.



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Wednesday, August 3, 2011

A review of "This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein"

I recently received an ARC copy of This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein, by Kenneth Oppel. It was an interesting read (and one I finished fairly quickly), so I've posted my review below. Not too long from now I'll soon be posting about some other projects I've been working on book-wise and painting-wise. Oh, and if anyone has any advice as to why my computer always seems to have to catch up to my typing speed...that would be awesome. It's driving me crazy...*twitch, twitch*

This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor FrankensteinThis Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book surprised me. When I started it, I wasn't sure how much I was going to like it, because the beginning threw me off. It started off with Victor in a play, only I didn't know it was a play, so I felt mislead into thinking this was going to be an AU (alternate universe) version of the Frankenstein story that would involve fantasy creatures. The switch to reality felt abrupt, and it wouldn't be my first choice for starting a novel. However, from there, things picked up.

I greatly disliked Victor at first, but I became more and more fascinated with his storyline, and found that I was reading very quickly. it only took me a few days to read this because of the fast pacing of the book. I also liked little details in there that helped make the story feel more real, historical details that I knew to be true of the time period; it helped give a grounding to the novel that then made some of the alchemy elements seem that more fantastic and yet real as well. I think it did a good job of putting the reader in the same state of half-belief, half-doubt, that Victor's friends were in.

So the reasons I didn't give it five stars:
The slower beginning
The lack of editing (I know it's because it's an ARC copy, but missing quotation marks often tripped me up when i tried to figure out who was speaking)
The heavy foreshadowing (while I like some foreshadowing, it made the story's ending seem too obvious to me)

The reason I did give it four stars:
The fast pacing of the book
The dark tone
The polished style of the writer
The character development by the end

This was a good novel for adults and YA, but I would be hesitant to recommend it for a much younger crowd since there are some dark moments and some serious topics addressed in the book. Overall, if you're interested in Frankenstein's story, the time period, or adventure stories, I would definitely recommend this book.



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Thursday, June 16, 2011

What it's all about

I've been building up tho this; more and more I've wanted to do a blog where I can walk about my passions: writing, reading, and drawing/design. So here I'm going to post book reviews, writing articles I think are interesting, and artwork I've done.

Just to start things along, I'm linking to my goodreads profile here: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4301258-erin-huber

My goal is to read 100 book this year, so there should definitely be some regular updates. To start things off, a book review I did yesterday (and yes, I tend to trend toward sci-fi/fantasy and YA literature, but I also read some historical fiction):

The Lost Gate (Mither Mages, #1)The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I love when books refer to mythology or folk tales, and this one was especially fascinating because I had just seen Thor, and Lost Gate references Norse mythology (Thor, Loki, Odin, etc.) mainly, but also other mythologies from all around the world. So it's a lot of fun for someone who is a history/mythology buff as well as a fantasy buff.

There are a few slower points where it feels like the story has wandered off into random sidelines, and every now and then the back-and-forth between Wad and Danny's stories had me impatient, which is the reason for the four stars instead of five. The other thing I had a problem with was Danny. At the beginning he was really likeable, but I had problems with him in the middle of the story. I know that his stupid choices made him more human and more of a kid in some ways, but with as clever as he was supposed to be, I didn't like the tone of some of his jokes. But by the end he was beginning to realize how awful he'd been sometimes, so I have high hopes for him.

All in all, it was a fairly fast, interesting read. And I would definitely pick up the sequel if there was one.

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