Book Review: Pieces of Eight - Melissa Wright

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Book two of the Frey Saga. Filled with interesting new revelations and  adventures.

Pluses:

Pieces of Eight reads a lot easier than Frey, the first book in the series. The reasons behind why Frey keeps passing out or needing to get knocked out is revealed finally so it seems less like some sort of kidnapping story and feels more like a real fantasy thriller. 

The character development in this book really took off. There was some in the first book, but it seems Melissa Wright was saving all of the character development for the second book. It was refreshing to see the characters grow and have more of their back story/ Frey's memories crop up so that way the reader has a much better understanding of what had been happening in the first book. 

I honestly enjoyed the ending of this one, though I felt a little cheated by the outcome of the battle. It was far too short and too easily taken care of for my tastes.

Minuses:

I really don't see why Melissa Wright titled this book Pieces of Eight. There is no real mention in the book to anything in eight pieces and it has absolutely nothing to do with pirates. I found this irksome. 

Frey really doesn't seem to care after she's killed someone, which worries me and makes me wonder about where this series is really going to go. There's no real consequence and her conscience doesn't gnaw at her like it probably should and it makes Frey seem heartless and selfish. I'm hoping that that is explained in better detail in the third book. 

Overall:

A decent book, although I worry about the lack of consequences in this series. There seems to be a nasty circle of destruction, re-cooperation and more destruction in the cycle of the series in terms of past, present and near future. Other than that, the book was well written and made up for a lot of the problems I had with the first book in the series. 

Rating:        3 out of 5 Bijouxs

Book Review: Magnificent Devices - Shelley Adina

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Another prim and thrilling installment of the Devices series! I couldn't put it down for the life of me.

Pluses:

If you like Steampunk, but don't want to have to sift through all of the Steampunk Smut novels out there, this series is for you. Light, fun with a twist of adventure and a gratuitous dash of propriety and practicality. 

Steampunk set in London a little too stuffy for you? Magnificent Devices incorporates the Wild West! Flash floods, Railroad tycoons, big explosions and pirating, this book has it all. An excellent blend of Victorian London and the Wild West without losing the series' core spirit. 

Minuses:

It wasn't long enough for me. Seriously though, this is the longest of the three installments in the Devices series but it reads so much faster than the other two. I'm unsure if it's the action and high adventure, but I was done with the book long before I expected it to end. And of course, now I'm chomping at the bit for the fourth novel! Shelley Adina really left off at the perfect time and left it open for not just one book, but many. So I'll be waiting with bated breath for Brilliant Devices when it arrives in ebook format this February! 

Overall:

I loved it.

Another great Steampunk novel that isn't filled with trashy smut like most are today. I honestly think of Shelley Adina as a gateway Steampunk novelist. Her books are fun, smart, interesting and have plenty of action and adventure. They are also relatively short and I read them like I eat candy, far too fast for my own good. If you want to get into Steampunk but aren't sure what would be a good starting point, this is it, my friend. Once you start reading, you'll be hooked. 

Rating:         4.5 out of 5 Bijouxs

Book Review: Alien Vs. Alien - Gini Koch

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This book, like so many of Captain Gini Koch's books, is fast-paced, hilarious, and abounds with witty "Kittyisms" and crazy plot twists that always keep you guessing! I had a little bit of a book addict meltdown last week when my Nook refused to download my pre-bought copy of Alien V.S. Alien when it was released on the 4th. Managed to troll the B&N forums and found the solution. Why you have to archive a title, sync library, then unarchive I have no idea, but the tip worked, crises and many tears of frustration averted. 

Pluses:

Um. It's a Gini Koch book, need I say more?

Like all of Captain Gini's Alien series, Alien V.S. Alien is chocked full of....you guessed it, Aliens. [Insert image of Giorgio Tsoukalos here.] I've read quite a bit of interesting Sci-Fi books with strange and unusual aliens, but none that seem to have that je ne sais quoi quite like Gini's aliens do. I'm not sure if it's the note of humanity, the ability for alien parasites to be melted into icky, rank slag with a good dousing of hairspray, or it's the creative way she has incorporated interesting quirks and foibles for each alien species and made those aspects into real plot gut-busters. Whatever the reason, the alien menagerie is definitely a selling point for this series. 

Speaking of which! There was an introduction of another Alpha Centauri 4 royal pet species. The Peregrines! I wasn't so sure about them in the beginning  but they really grew on me throughout the rest of the book, just as they grew on Kitty and the rest of the ACs. Trust the book addict, you will come to love the alien avians. 

Minuses:

Not all that many, in all honesty. Captain Gini's books often read really quickly, though sometimes there's a little too much going on to easily keep track of. But nothing gets lost in the crazy woodwork and it always comes back full circle. Alien V.S. Alien was, in particular, one of the best well-rounded installments in the Alien series. All of the characters and information from previous books all came together in this book and played nice in some surprising ways. 

Unless Captain Gini is really writing some alien ass-kicker's biography, there are no real-life AC men...[sob]

Overall Thoughts:

Um. YES. Say YES to the book! Read it, devour it page by page and laugh your little tushies off. The plucky one-liners will keep you chortling [yes I actually used the word chortling] and reaching for the tissues to wipe away the tears of laughter. The character development in this book is amazing, Dr. Doolittle moments and all. The plot keeps twisting until you're not sure what's going to happen, although you know it will end up all right in the end. And all the while you're on the edge of your seat, biting your thumb as the action packed sequences roar to life in your mind's eye. UNLEASH THE POOFS!

Rating:           No question. 5 out of 5 Bijouxs.

Book Review : Frey - Melissa Wright

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Whoot! 50 books in! I have to be honest. I got this book free off of B&N and only decided to read it on a whim when I couldn't get the newest Gini Koch book to download onto my Nook. It was surprisingly good and I couldn't put it down! See comments below...

Pluses:
It was free.
Really, all you need to do to get me excited about any book is to give it to me for free. It just feeds my addiction really...

Beyond that, the book had a pretty quick pace and I ended up staying up way too late to keep reading it. Melissa Wright's writing voice is a little bubbly and catching. Her main character [who has a few too many nicknames] Frey, is interesting, by turns kind, shy, cruel, curious, and petulant. A little like a rampaging kitten and it's fun to keep reading to see what she'll do next. I'm not entirely sure if that's what she intended with her character, but it worked well nonetheless. I also liked Chevelle and Ruby as characters. Chevelle for being stoic and a little obscure and Ruby for being fiery and unusual. The settings were nicely described and I often had glorious visuals in my mind's eye as I read, kind of reminiscent of Skyrim.

Minuses:
Melissa Wright occasionally forgets to let the reader know who is doing what when there is more than one male character in the scene. Lots of "he" 's being thrown out and not a lot of names so it gets confusing now and again until you realize 'Oh, that's who she was describing.'

Sometimes, the concept of time is a little fuddled considering the number of times Frey either falls unconscious or is drugged for sanity's sake. Occasionally, the 'let's drug ya!' theme is used too often and almost seems like a crutch when Melissa wasn't sure what to do in a specific part of her story.

This will be a spoiler but I find it necessary to put in. From what it sounded like from where Melissa Wright noted, this book took place over the course of months. Months mind you. And through all of her misadventures Frey never really stopped to demand any serious answers from anybody. And that bothered me.

Overall Thoughts:
The book was an interesting, quickly paced, easy read. Definitely a YA novel, but a solid one. It seems that this might be Melissa Wright's first book and she did an impressive job on it. Given time, I know she will hone her craft of storytelling and be an author worth watching out for. She has three other books out at the moment, all part of the Frey Saga/Universe. I'm honestly looking forward to reading the rest of her books to find out what happens next. And at the price point of 2.99 I can afford them all! :D [insert maniacal laugh here]

Rating:     3 out of 5 Bijouxs

Book Review : Unbroken: Outcast Season #4 - Rachel Caine

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I just got around to finishing this book tonight and it marks the 49th book under my belt this year. 50 here I come!

Pluses:
I'm a pretty big fan of Rachel Caine's Weather Warden series [though I'm still missing a few books] and I came to love her Outcast Season series as well. It takes place in the same universe and general timeline as the Weather Warden series so there's a lot of crossover.

Since I haven't read the last two Weather Warden books, I feel like I've probably missed a few things that would have clarified some of the goings on in this book. Despite my lack of being caught up in the Weather Warden series, I was able to keep up with the story progression and character interaction with relative ease.

Rachel Caine's characters are always vibrant, feisty and haunted, a mix that makes for great chemistry in the plot. She's also amazingly good with getting into her character's shoes and becoming them as she writes. Because damn if Cassiel isn't like night and day to Joanne Baldwin from the Weather Warden series! Getting to read about the two of them meeting was kind of a pleasant shock and made me think differently about both characters.

As the last book in a series it was actually well done and I don't feel irritated at how it ended, like I usually am. Though, like all series that seem to end too soon from a reader's standpoint, I really hope that Rachel Caine will push forward and create a series that takes place after the climax of both the Outcast Season and the Weather Wardens. I'm just chomping at the bit to find out what happens after all of this has been said and done!

Minuses:
The only thing I really had an issue with in Unbroken is that part way through, Cassiel would seem to sit on her thumbs and watch shit go down until she got into a tight spot and then important characters started popping in and out like a mad game of whack-a-mole to either help her or for her to help them before they disappeared abruptly. Understandably, there was a lot going on throughout the entire book and I know that there are two books worth of info I'm lacking. Plus, balancing the crossover for both series is a bitch [as I'm in the process of doing that myself], so I can't really complain much.

Overall Thoughts:
A solid final book to a series. Will need to read the entirety of the Weather Wardens before I get the whole picture though.

Rating:    4 out of 5 Bijouxs

Welcome to my reading shenanigans!

Hello all,

If you have found this blog out in the wild depths of the internet, welcome to my little bolthole. The entire purpose of this blog is to actually do the job that my other blog was assigned to do [before I began NaNoWriMo and it turned into a writing blog...] and that is be a record of my reading list as well as be the place where I rant about what I've recently read. Because we've all had books that we've finished and want to shake a fist at the sky and curse like a drunken soldier-cop-convict-sailor-lumberjack-man. And we've also had those books that have ended so well we need to tell the world how good a job the author did and praise their genius and thoughtfulness.

As much as I'd love to go over every book I've read for the last year....this is December. You know, the last month of the year? So, I'm only going to start with the one I most recently finished. Why? Because, sweetheart, that's nearly 50 books. If it were 10 I'd be all gung ho to do it, but it's not, and I'm lazy and have a book to finish writing. And I really don't want to die from brain overload. But I'm going to try to make it a habit from now on.

At any rate, welcome! And please don't step on the reference books....


~The Read-O-Matic