Book Review: Asylum Murders

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Asylum Murders
by Michael G. Colburn

My rating: 2.5 / 5
Genre: Historical mystery

Edie Black has a history as a thief, but she has a fresh start in Melbourne, Australia and hopes to help the local police investigate crime instead of committing it herself. She gets involved in the search for a missing government artifact, which leads her to a reunion with Britina, a young woman from her criminal past. Britina, now a nun in Australia, is assigned to work in a local asylum and quickly suspects foul play amongst some of the staff.

The setting and tone of this book are dark and gothic and provide a mysterious atmosphere for the story. The storyline that revolves around the asylum is intriguing, though not what I thought the focus of the book would be. The theft of a ceremonial mace used in Parliament and the beating of a woman on the same night are where the story starts, and the sections with Britina seem more like a departure for a while. The investigation into the theft and assaulted woman leads Edie to the asylum, but the two storylines are never really all that connected. I can’t say there’s really much mystery in this book, as the foul play in the asylum is laid bare to us in POV scenes from the bad guys’ perspectives. The perpetrators of the theft and assault do remain a mystery for most of the book, but again, that storyline takes a back seat, and thus so do the actual mystery elements. And only some of the theft/assault storyline is actually solved by the people investigating it, which is not normally how I prefer my mystery stories to end.

The first couple of chapters of this book set a content level that I wasn’t comfortable with, between the attempted rape of the assaulted woman described from her perspective (fortunately it’s brief and only a little of what I’d call graphic) and the orgy. Yes, that’s right…the orgy. On the night the ceremonial mace goes missing, it’s brought to an orgy before then disappearing completely. As you might imagine, then, much of the investigation into the mace involves Edie discussing with the attendees of the orgy their actions that night. I’m not a fan. At all. Again, nothing super graphic, but enough to make me uncomfortable.

On top of all of that, there is the dialog. Nothing reminds me more that I’m reading fiction (as opposed to being caught up in the story) than dialog where the characters constantly say each other’s names as they’re talking. People don’t like that in real life, and it’s a huge pet peeve of mine in fiction. So clearly I was the wrong audience for this book, since many of my issues are personal preferences. It’s also the 2nd book in a series, the 1st of which seems to have taken place quite some time before this (and in London). The major events of that book, which led to both Edie and Britina being in Australia, are briefly explained, but it was difficult for me to follow most of it. Sounds like it was a fairly complex plot. But maybe this book would be more enjoyable to people who’ve already read that previous book and become invested in the characters. To me, Edie (who calls herself “Lady Edith,” though apparently she doesn’t have any actual rank) is fairly bland, while Britina gets a little more characterization in the book. So while I have no plans to read the first book in this series or any that might come after, if the overall idea of this book, its setting, or its characters interest you, I’d suggest you consider reading the first book in the series first.

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Book Review: Four Windows, One Jesus

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Four Windows, One Jesus
by Chad Colter

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Christian devotional

Four Windows, One Jesus is a 40-day devotional focusing on Jesus as portrayed in the four gospels. Each gospel is given 10 days (11, if you count the intro to each gospel’s section that is about as long as the daily devotional), with the intention to show the different facets of Christ that are provided by the 4 different gospel writers.

I think many will find a lot to appreciate in this devotional. I wrote down a few nuggets that I gleaned and that made me think about Jesus, myself, or my relationship with Jesus a little differently. The author pushes the reader to not just skim passages that are familiar or even thought of as boring, like the genealogy at the beginning of Matthew, but to slow down and try to focus on the text and why it has been included. As someone who has been a Christian for many years and has read/heard passages from the gospels many times over the years, I appreciate this slower approach. I also like that the reader is tasked with reading a passage for themselves and then reading the devotional about that passage, rather than 1) the devotional covering only a verse or two, which can be done well, but often ends up feeling a little shallow or out of context (though there are a few of these devotionals that cover only a verse or two as well) or 2) feeding you the passage instead of leading you to look it up in your own Bible.

However, I struggled with a few aspects of the devotionals along the way. There is a lot of repetition in each devotional, and the author’s overall literary style is not my preference. He weirdly seems to pit one gospel/gospel writer against another when the day’s passage is one that is also included in another gospel, comparing them in a way that, at least to me, seems to say that the other one has parts to it that aren’t worth thinking about right now (even though the idea here is supposed to be to bring the different views of Christ together). And in the same way, he seems dismissive of the Old Testament and other historical context, as he will vaguely reference something that would give a scene in the gospel more depth and meaning and tell the reader to not let that bog down the reading/understanding. But as my church’s pastor is fond of saying, “There’s no text without context.” Sometimes that context makes all the difference in understanding why what happened in the gospel matters or what it means! There were a few spots I noted that I think he may have interpreted something wrongly, but nothing I felt was theologically wrong.

I am not sure who the audience for this devotional is meant to be. I feel that some of his vague references to context would confuse newer Christians or those who don’t have a decent background with the Bible. More mature Christians might find enough of value here to make the book worthwhile, so I suppose that’s where the correct audience is best found. I could see a case being made for reading this with a group, because good discussion about what is brought up in the text (and even the question about whether or not the reader should ignore the context or whether one angle of an account is “better” in Mark vs. Matthew) could arise.

I received a free review copy from the author in exchange for my honest unedited feedback.

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Book Review: Living Unoffended

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Living Unoffended
by Brant Hansen

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Christian living

Radio show host Brant Hansen counters the common opinion that Christians are entitled to “righteous anger,” while also making a case about how learning to let go of our “right” to be offended can change our lives.

I read Unoffendable by Brant Hansen 6 years ago and found that it had a lot to offer; it helped me examine a lot in my life, not only about anger and anxiety but also hypocrisy and self-righteousness. As Brant says in the intro to this book, “We need to keep talking about this stuff.” Brant does a good job here of laying out why righteous anger doesn’t really make sense and how anger and worry mean we’re not trusting God like we should. He uses scripture as well as examples from both Christian and secular writers and thinkers to back up his claims, and he does it all with his signature humor. Brant also offers some practical advice for learning to let go of offense, becoming more humble and Christ-like, and trusting God more fully.

The book is basically a series of short essays, and some of the content comes from at least 2 of Brant’s other books (Unoffendable and Life Is Hard. God Is Good. Let’s Dance.). I haven’t read the 2nd of those books yet, and fortunately I read the 1st long enough ago that it didn’t feel like a repeat to me. However, if you have read either or both of those books, you may not feel the need to read this one. Not that there isn’t anything new here, but I’m not sure how much is new. I do recommend this book, as well all of Brant Hansen’s books, really, for Christians and non-Christians alike.

Thank you to Netgalley and W Publishing for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: Mandie and the Charleston Phantom

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Mandie and the Charleston Phantom
Mandie #7
by Lois Gladys Leppard

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Children’s Christian historical fiction

I read a lot of this series when I was a kid/pre-teen, and I read some of them to my now-teen daughter when she was younger. Nostalgia definitely affects my reviews for this series, and I’m okay with that.

Most of my issues with the previous books in the series have to do with Mandie’s attitude or actions and sketchy theology (there was a bit of that here too). This time, my biggest issue is just the super weak plot. It’s obvious the entire time who’s behind the “ghost,” and the reasoning for it ends up being so flimsy, it’s easier to believe that the culprit only agreed with the suggested reason because it was at least a little better than just the real motive—plain mean-heartedness. There’s also too much focus on boys liking Mandie, thinking she’s pretty, even wanting to marry her someday, for a book about a 12-year-old girl. I’m sure I thought it was sweet or even romantic when I was a pre-teen, but it could definitely have at least been toned down. While I think these books can still be good for younger people to read, especially if you’re looking for something with Christian content, I strongly recommend discussing what’s good and bad in them with your kid(s) after they read it.

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Book Review: Thornbird

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Thornbird
by E. Kennedy

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: YA thriller, romance

Gabrielle Thorn’s father confessed to murdering 6 women, but for 10 years, he refused to reveal where their bodies were. As both the 10th anniversary of his conviction and the date set for his execution approach, Gabrielle returns to the town where the murders took place with a new name and new story. Now she’s Ryan Shipley and even the cousins she’s living with don’t know who she really is. Ryan just wants to live as normal a life as she can before she graduates and leaves town for good, but as the search for the victims’ bodies heats up, she starts to get texts from an unknown sender threatening to reveal her true identity.

I don’t think I’d call this book a thriller, and it’s not much of a mystery either. For one thing, the murders have been solved. The only mystery here is where the bodies are, and Ryan does not spend any remotely significant amount of time in the story trying to figure that out—in fact, she actively avoids it as much as possible. For me, there was some suspense in the book, but that was really mostly due to me thinking there was going to be more going on than met the eye. There really wasn’t. A lot of the book is spent with Ryan feeling guilty, nauseous, etc. over what her dad did, the lasting effect he still has on his victims’ families, and keeping her secret from people she’s getting close to. She constantly does things she thinks are a bad idea, mostly chalked up to hormones, and basically is just carried along by the actions of those around her.

Romance is here in full force, though, albeit a worldly, YA version of romance. Ryan is pursued by the football quarterback, which then turns into a predictable-yet-ridiculous love triangle. In fact, around the 75% mark, when a thriller should be heating up, instead the serial killer side of the story slows way down as the romance heats up, and for a few chapters it seems the only focus is the physical side of this new relationship (which, by the way, is the only side to the relationship). After that, there are some reveals, at least one that could probably be seen as a twist, but I still kept expecting something else exciting or unexpected to happen, but the story played out fairly blandly to the end. So much of what happens in the last several chapters is illogical or just really stupid decisions on Ryan’s part.

So, I don’t really recommend this book to anyone. Younger readers might not be as bothered by the plot holes, terrible characterization, or other things that made me roll my eyes. However, the graphic nature of at least one of the physical interactions between Ryan and her triangle guy is inappropriate for teens. And for once, after reading other reviews, I’m not the only one that felt that it went too far, even amongst reviewers that are less conservative than I am. So let that be a warning to anyone considering reading this, of any age, really.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children’s Books for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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July in Review

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I read 21 books last month, which is pretty much insane for me. Not only is that a high monthly number for me, I broke my previous record of pages read during one month with 766 more pages than my previous high, set in January of this year. My audiobook consumption is getting insane… (10 of these books were audiobooks). I’ve been doing a lot of re-reading via audiobooks lately, mostly to refresh my memory on books I read a while ago before my daughter and I record podcast episodes for those books. It’s really helpful to have so many books I don’t have to write new reviews for…I don’t know if I could have very easily written 21 reviews last month.

Here are the books I read in July:

Homicide at Blue Heron Lake by Susan Page Davis & Megan Elaine Davis (4 / 5)
Dead Men Don’t Play Fetch by David Rosenfelt (4.5 / 5)
Genius Camp by Chris Grabenstein (4 / 5)
Parks and Rec by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong (2 / 5)
Boy-Crazy Stacey by Ann M. Martin (2 / 5)
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko (5 / 5)
Out of Darkness by Daniel J. Atkins (4 / 5)
The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans (4 / 5)
Newsboy by John James (5 / 5)
Flop Dead Gorgeous by David Rosenfelt (5 / 5)
Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko (4 / 5)
Berserkers by M.A. Larson (4.5 / 5)
The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase by Greg Cox (3.5 / 5)
The Indebted Earl by Erica Vetsch (4.5 / 5)
Greetings from Witness Protection! by Jake Burt (5 / 5)
A Fatal Encore by S.A. Reeves (3 / 5)
The Game Masters of Garden Place by Denis Markell (3.5 / 5)
The Institute by Stephen King (4.5 / 5)
Thinking Things Over by Charles Francis Guittard (3.5 / 5)
Evil Genius by Chris Grabenstein (4 / 5)
Library of Forbidden Books by Mario Escobar (2 / 5)

This list includes 5 ARCs and 8 re-reads. My favorite book from July was Flop Dead Gorgeous. I started 2 series, continued 3 series, and finished 2 series. My ever-changing short list of to-be-reads, as well as a flag for the book I’m currently reading and an ongoing list of those I’ve read and posted about can be found here.

I’m also keeping my Goodreads page updated with a more extensive list of to-be-reads. Despite my almost too-long TBR list, I’m always looking for more to add. Feel free to offer suggestions of your favorites or just recent reads you enjoyed.

Book Review: The Institute

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The Institute
Stephen King
Read by Santino Fontana

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Sci-fi thriller

When 12-year-old genius Luke Ellis is kidnapped from home, it turns out his kidnappers don’t care at all about his high IQ. They want him for his minor psychic abilities, along with other kids, all of whom are taken to the Institute and given lots of tests and shots. When they first arrive, they are in Front Half, where the food is good but the adults are cruel. Luke learns that kids are eventually taken to Back Half, after which, they’re told, they’ll be returned to their families. But Luke doesn’t trust these people who punish any slight insubordination with brutality, and as his time in Front Half nears its end, he becomes increasingly desperate to escape.

I really enjoyed this book and was engaged all the way through. Even when I felt like the narrative had taken a strange turn, or when I was confused when the first several chapters seemed completely unrelated to the main story, I was interested, invested, and always looking forward to when I could get back to listening to the audiobook again. The suspense and intensity build throughout the book, as stakes get higher and more is revealed about the Institute. I really appreciate that the main character isn’t the strongest, psychically speaking. He’s a genius, but really on a meager TK (telekinetic). He needs help from other kids, especially one that’s a particularly strong TP (telepath). And the anticipating of seeing how Luke’s story would intersect with the seemingly unrelated man we’re introduced to in the first 15 chapters adds to the suspense.

The ending was a little anti-climactic, maybe a little bit of a letdown after an otherwise great story. Overall, though, I really enjoyed my first full-length Stephen King novel. I’m still not sure I’m ready for any of his horror books yet, but this won’t be my last King novel. Santino Fontana did a great job with the narration, too, and added to my enjoyment of the book. I can’t speak to how this compares to King’s other works, but I do recommend this books to anyone interested in the premise or genre.

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Book Review: Library of Forbidden Books

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Library of Forbidden Books
by Mario Escobar

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: Historical fiction

Helene Nathan is a librarian in Berlin, one of the first women to hold a management position in a major library in Berlin. As Hitler begins his rise to power in Germany, the Nazi party begins to confiscate books that are by authors they don’t like or that are seen as contrary to the German worldview. Helene and her fellow librarians will do what they can to protect as many forbidden books as possible, but it’s not easy to stay ahead of the Nazis.

One of my biggest issues with this book is that it tries to do too much and thus the main plotline suffers. Besides the premise above, Helene’s significant other, Derek, is the 2nd-in-command to Werner von Blomberg, who eventually becomes Minister of War. A lot of the book shares details about pre-war Germany, the Nazi party’s rise to power, and political and military machinations. Helene spends time in a women’s concentration camp, which is also a decent portion of the book. Spanning over 10 years, the narrative dips in to days or moments here and there and then speeds by other times. Though various different aspects of the book are interesting and informative, it wasn’t the kind of story I was expecting to read. I never felt all that connected to Helene, and in the end, I couldn’t help but wonder what the real purpose of the story is. Maybe it’s only meant to warn against the dangers of censorship, but it all felt fairly light, really.

The vast time frame of the story and the fact that Helene Nathan is based on a real person, the book does read like nonfiction, or at least a fictionalized version of a real story. But though of course real details about German before and during WWII were used in the book, very little of the story is real. Every side character that isn’t someone in the Nazi Party is fiction, and Helene’s life beyond her job as librarian and a stint in a Jewish bookstore is made up, including her time in a concentration camp and the hiding of forbidden books. I’m not saying I’m against any of this fictionalization, even with a real person as a starting point, but it brings me back to my issue with there being too much going on in the book. Maybe Escobar felt it would be too convenient if Helene was never arrested or simply wanted to show a concentration camp for part of his story. Maybe there just wasn’t enough for a whole book without the inclusion of these extra things, and it’s true that even feeling bloated, the book isn’t really all that long. I’m not sure there’s much in this book that I haven’t read in other books, fiction or non. Due to the publishing company being Thomas Nelson, I kept hoping for something to come out of Derek starting to have talks with a Christian pastor. But in the end, we’re left with more hopelessness than anything uplifting. The wins, at least to me, outweigh the losses. And sure, I guess that’s realistic, but since Escobar isn’t intending to stay true to a real-life narrative, I would have preferred an ending where the library isn’t the only winner.

Ultimately, this book missed the mark for me, but if you’re interested in the premise, don’t let my preferences dissuade you. Check out positive reviews at the link below and decide for yourself.

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas Nelson for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: The Game Masters of Garden Place

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The Game Masters of Garden Place
by Denis Markell

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Middle grade fantasy

Since they were first introduced to the tabletop roleplaying game Reign of Dragons at around 10 years of age, Ralph and his friends began to play the game weekly. Over the next couple of years their characters face monsters and perils in search of the components of a powerful item, which no one has managed to complete in the history of Reign of Dragons. But since Ralph and his friends have gotten farther in the campaign than most, Ralph is sent a special set of dice by the game creator’s son. This leads to Ralph’s gaming group’s fantasy characters coming to life in the real world, and it’s up to Ralph and friends to rein them in and try to get them back home.

I found most aspects of the fantasy characters in the real world enjoyable, including the fact that it wasn’t left to just be a vague, no-real-reason-given effect. Ralph (known as RPG by his friends) is trying to keep his friend group together as they’re growing up a little and developing different interests, though I feel like that angle to the story wasn’t really needed. I really appreciate that the characters aren’t all just stereotypes that I often see in books for this age range; for example, the athlete/warrior character is a female.

There are several scenes that are “in-world,” meaning they are written as if the story is about the fantasy characters and their quest. At first, this is used humorously, as it ends with the characters talking as their real-world players and discussing the need to be done playing due to real life calling. But the more we’re taken back to that world, the more I started to skim those sections. I didn’t really feel the need to know that much detail about their campaigns. Maybe people who are really into Dungeons & Dragons (the game on which Reign of Dragons is based) and other games like that would enjoy it more. And it’s entirely possible that Markell used those sections to build up the characterization of the fantasy characters so we’d be more connected to them when they came into the real world. I can’t really say for sure how necessary they were for that, but I can say that, for the most part, Markell did pretty well having distinct personalities for the five fantasy characters.

Sometimes the kids act a little too old for their ages, especially when you think about the fact that they’re only 10 when they come up with some of the backgrounds that they do for their characters. There’s also something a little off-putting about these grown adults being in a somewhat intimate setting with 12-year-olds, but nothing that was a huge deal in the end. Though one of the fantasy characters is revealed to be gay, which means that A) his 10-year-old creator decided to make his character gay (or decided on that at some point in the next 2 years) and B) the young creator is also most likely gay (which is hinted at in the story as well). I’ve never been a fan of the attempt to normalize these things for kids, and I am certain that there are others who will want to be aware of this in advance. At the very least, if you have the same concerns at all, I would recommend reading the book first, to evaluate for yourself whether you feel it’s okay for them to read or to simply be able to discuss it with them as/after they read the book. I did not factor any of this into my rating, and I know many people won’t care one way or the other, but I share this for those who do. With that in mind, though, I think many people, kids and adults, who are fans of fantasy roleplaying games or other similar ventures will enjoy this book. My husband has played some D&D over the years, so I have enough peripheral knowledge of the game to have found the real-life D&D characters aspect of this book interesting. Overall, really, anyone who’s played any kind of game where they play as fantasy characters, or even who has written a book with…well, characters, could probably identify with the main premise here.

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