serinde4books's reviews
937 reviews

This is the third book in the Oz trilogy. In this book the Cowardly Lion is interviewing Mother Yackle regarding Elphaba and Liir, and during the interview we find out more about the Lion’s life. And finally we find out what happened to Nor. This book still leaves a great many mysteries unresolved. Some mysteries are solved and/or clarified but if I told you which ones I would spoil all the fun. A Lion Among Men was a more difficult read for me, the storyline seemed less cohesive then the first two books. The storyline jumped between the Lion’s story, Mother Yackle’s story, and Nor’s story in such a way that the entire book seem disjointed. The jumps sometimes were too abrupt and did not allow for a good flow. I was glad to know the backgrounds of the characters and it made some events in the first two books clear, but it made it hard to read and follow too. In the end there were still a great many things left unresolved hopefully Out of Oz will finally answer all my questions. It seems to me in this book that Maguire has lost some of his story telling mojo.

I really like Dune, this is not my first reading and I have seen the movie a couple of times so I know what's going on. Saying that, I think this is the best book in the series, the other never really held me like this one does. And man does it feel good to be back to a genre I love with a story line that holds me and makes me not want to put the book down.
This is the story of Paul Atreides, a young duke, and his rise to power as a religious messiah for the natives of Arrakis. His Father is betrayed and murdered and he finds his way amongst a savage civilization. This is a power struggle for the whole universe, but as all power struggles start is just between two people, it grows to engulf two families and grows until the entire universe is drawn in. We just come into the story near the end. This was written between 1959 and 1965, and to me it has a lot of the themes of the time, religion, politics, evolution, philosophy. Herbert asks a lot of big questions in a digestible way, mainly where are we going as a whole and how do we want to be when we get there. It still feels current to me with all the technological advances we have made and the ethical questions that revolve around our scientific advances. it gives me food for thought on our entire society, I guess the same questions have been being asked for 50 years now, and we still are unsure.
The ending did leave some things open ended, but not so much that if you don’t want to read the rest in the series you feel that it is incomplete. It is obviously part of a series, but at the same time it has the ability to be a standalone book as well.

To read my full review see my blog: http://adventuresofabibliophile.blogspot.com/2013/11/dune-by-frank-herbert.html

I enjoyed the first Odd Thomas so much that I decided not to wait for my book club to finish the series in a year or so.
In this second installment Odd is still reeling from the events of book one, mainly Stormy's death. A good friend is kidnapped and it is up to Odd to search and rescue him before it is too late.
It was a super quick read and easy to follow. There wasn't any shocking endings or crazy mass murders and I missed the Bodach's presence. But there were some pretty strong poltergeist, and nice set up for book 3. It wasn't as good as the first but, still good.

To read my full review see my blog: http://adventuresofabibliophile.blogspot.com

This is a story about a girl born in Pakistan who stood up for women’s rights against the Taliban. On October 9, 2012 her courage became around the world because she was shot while riding the school bus home. Against all odds she survived a head shot and the world prayed and held its breath, and now we hear her story in her own words.

To read my full review see my blog http://adventuresofabibliophile.blogspot.com

This is a story about the ravenges of war. Not so much the acts of war, but more the damage war does to the human soul. The story is about a man trapped in his own mind after fighting in WWI, and the trauma it has on his sanity. The book was ok, it was a bit on the depressing side, the entire story line was the main character's stream of conciousness which I personally found a bit tedious and wanted more background information, either as an introduction or a epilogue.

This was a BOTM series read, we read one book a week. The Although it took me much less than a week to read each book. The Hunger Games (24 hours), Catching Fire (3 days), and Mockingjay ( 3 days). They were a really easy read and I literally flew through them
So as I am sure almost everyone is familiar with the premise of the books even if they have only seen the movie previews on TV. So as we know there was a war 74 years ago between the Capitol and 13 outlying districts. The capitol destroyed a District (District 13) had has since been oppressing the reaming 12 districts, keeping them highly policed, isolated, uber poor and starving. Then to keep them even more depressed and desperate, they make them send 2 of their children (age 12 to 18) each year to die via a horrible death at a highly televised game show. Then two contestants come and shake it all up, and start a revolution. It take all three books to get from the start of the revolution to the end. Hunger Games is set in District 12, and the random names draws are Peeta Mellark and Prim Everdeen. Prim however is only 12 and so her 16 year old sister Katniss volunteers to go in her place. The two contestants find themselves in the world of the Capitol, a place of wealth and overindulgence, the Capitol citizens are materialistic and shallow. Katniss is only thinking of herself and getting home to her family. Peeta on the other hand is thinking of how to get Katniss home and starts a lie based on truth that he and Katniss are doomed lovers. It works, but in the end she pulls it out and saves him too, defeating the Capitol at its own game and giving inspiration to all the districts to fight their own oppression, with the message "if we die in our fight, at least it was our choice and not yours." My summation not Collins's.
We surprise, surprise this really pisses the Capitol off, so they decide as retribution that in the special 75th edition of the televised child slaughter that they will spare the current children this year, and contestants will be selected from the previous winners. Oh damn, Katniss is the only female to have one from District 12, I guess she is going back. And because Peeta really does love Katniss, he is not about to let her go it alone. So sequel is a repeat, but nastier. There is no way the Capitol is going to let Katniss and Peeta cheat them again, their intent is to kill Katniss, hoping it will also kill the revolution that she is unaware of, that also happens to be using her as a symbol. Oh did I mention the Revolutionaries plan on rescuing Katniss and making her their leader, well image of a leader anyways. Problem is no one bothers to ask Katniss, or even tell her about these plots within plots. It really comes as no surprise that she doesn't play her part, she doesn't know her lines after all, and throws all sorts of monkey wrenches in things.
Then because they left Katniss out of her own rescue, they screw up and leave Peeta behind, Katniss does actually become the figurehead of the revolution to save him. But Peeta comes back different, and then Katniss's goal becomes to kill the person who did this to Peeta, but who really is the cause? Is it the leader of the Capitol President Snow? The leader of the revolutionaries President Coin? Is it society that let these awful games come into being? Or could it be Katniss herself? Hmm...social commentary GO!
Oh wait I almost forgot, Katniss is torn between Peeta and her best friend/potential boyfriend Gale. Decisions Decisions.
Now I know the synopsis sounds a little off putting, don't be off put I really like these books. Do they follow the same pattern as many of the YA dystopian society books that are all the rage right now yes. Does that make them bad no. I was drawn into the story, did I see parts as cookie cutter, yeah but its hard to read any book nowadays that doesn't have something cookie cutter about it. I think what I liked best about these books was the ending. I really liked that Collin's didn't give a traditional happy ending, some important characters die unexpectedly right when the reader thinks the win is at hand, spoiler it is not our three main players, Katniss, Peeta or Gale. What I like is that Katniss, Peeta and Gale come out the other side of this revolution changed, damaged even. In real life no one who went through what these young people did would come away with no emotional scars to match their physical scars. And Collins' gives us readers that truth.
For additional reviews please see my blog at www.adventuresofabibliophile.blogspot.com

This is the fourth book in the Odd series. Odd left the monastery at the end of book three and headed off to the Coast with Frank Sinatra and his ghost dog Boo in tow. When he gets there he gets the job of an in house chef for an reclusive actor from the 40's or 50's, his employer has a very small part and really adds nothing to the storyline. In fact not many of the characters introduced add much to the storyline, every character is weirder than the last and I'm not sure what value they have other than that Koontz wanted to write about them. There is something happening, Odd saw it in a dream, but what oh what is it? I think Koontz tried to hard, wanted to make what I assume started out as a fun story about a guy who sees dead people, into a larger, deeper story. When he should have just stuck to a kooky book about a guy who sees ghosts, and left the deeper meaning of life to another storyline or another writer.

To read my full review see my blog: http://adventuresofabibliophile.blogspot.com

I really liked this book. Odd Thomas is a young man that sees ghosts. I know, I know not a new concept, but just because Koontz isn't the first person to come up with story line doesn't make it any less enjoyable. Odd determines that a horrible massacre is about to happen in his home town and he is trying to stop it.

Read my full review at my blog http://adventuresofabibliophile.blogspot.com/2013/12/odd-thomas-by-dean-koontz.html

This was a book from my other book club that I missed, so when I finished The Wind Through the Keyhole so quickly I decided to pick it up and have a go. This is the story of Drew Silver, a loser. He was in a band with a hit song, the the band broke up. He was in a marriage, then the marriage broke up. Now he lives a lonely depressing life, and to top it off he finds out he is dying and his daughter is pregnant. Silver must struggle with the relationships in his life and try to mend some of his mistakes, while deciding if he wants to fight for his life, or just accept his death.

Surprisingly, this was a page turner, there were times when I couldn’t put it down. I really thought in the first chapter of so when I was reading about the disaster that was Silver’s life that this would be depressing and an awful read. But the writing was wonderful, there was an easy flow to the storytelling, nothing fancy, just a good story well written. I think the fact that all the characters in the book are so flawed and broken, makes them relatable and loveable.

There was a great rhythm in both the writing and the storyline. There were no super fast or thrilling sections of the book, but neither were there slow sections. You just rolled along at a happy place, and often I found that I was rolling so well that I couldn’t find a place to stop. I’m not afraid to say that this book made me cry at some parts, they were just so well written and touching. I didn’t have any laugh out loud moments, but those are much harder for a book to get from me. I did quietly chuckle once or twice though.


See my other reviews on my blog: http://adventuresofabibliophile.blogspot.com/

This is the sequel to Wicked: The life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. This book takes place ten years after the death of Elphaba, Liir is found beaten almost to death and as he lays in a comatose state we find out his adventures since Elphaba’s death. Liir is tasked by the Elephant princess, Nastoya, to find a cure for her half life and return her to her Elephant body to die. Liir also tasks himself with finding out what happened to Nor.

The rich landscape and world of Oz from Wicked is still present in this book, although it seemed a little duller to me. Maguire’s writing did not seem as rich or insightful in this book as in Wicked. There was very little social commentary or political intrigue. Most of the plot is about Liir’s internal struggle to find himself. Liir’s character did not have the depth that Elphaba did and therefore the internal struggle wasn’t nearly as interesting. This was a nice continuation of the story to see what happened to Oz after Elphaba’s death, but it just left me wanting something with more meat to it, this was too light