Book Review

November in Review

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I read 10 books last month, which is more than it felt like. Between Thanksgiving and participating in a writing challenge all month, I didn’t spend as much time reading or listening to audiobooks. So 10 is a pretty good number!

Here are the books I read in November:

HTTYD 3
Finding Phoebe
Minor 2
Odd 1
Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000040_00026]
House of Many Ways
Sea Before
Carpenter 21
Power cover, Kindle
Godhead
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How to Speak Dragonese by Cressida Cowell (4 / 5)
Finding Phoebe by Ellie Katz (3 / 5)
The Minor Rescue by Meredith Davis (3.5 / 5)
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz (4 / 5)
Resistance by Jaye L. Knight (3.5 / 5)
House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones (3.5 / 5)
The Sea Before Us by Sarah Sundin (4 / 5)
Muzzled by David Rosenfelt (4.5 / 5)
Power by Kristi Drillien (5 / 5)
The Godhead Complex by James Dashner (2 / 5)

This list includes 2 ARCs and 2 re-reads. My favorite book from November was Muzzled. I started 3 series, continued 4 series, and finished 1 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 Godhead Complex

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The Godhead Complex
The Maze Cutter #2
by James Dashner

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: YA dystopian

The Flare, the Cure, Cranks, the Maze, the Remnant Nation, the Godhead, the Evolution, pilgrims, villas, Orphans…I don’t know what is going on in this series anymore, it’s just so convoluted and bloated with characters and plot threads. The pacing is slow enough that even in this 2nd book in the trilogy, I feel like nothing really happens until near the end. That’s not to say that actually nothing happens, but it all felt so underwhelming. By the end of the previous book, I knew so little actual information, and then in this book, almost everything I thought I knew turns out to be either wrong or at least suspect. I still am not entirely sure who the good guys and bad guys are (maybe they’re all bad? or neutral? or just trying to survive?). And I really don’t care about any of the characters enough to want to hang in there to figure out what I don’t understand when everything is so messy.

I really wish that someone had explained to Dashner or any of his proofreaders that every single use of “god(dess)” in this book should have been a lowercase G. It’s a minor detail, but it grated on me that Alexandra, the our main connection to the Godhead (at least this is something of a title, so I guess the capital makes sense) in these books, is always referred to as a God with a capital G, amongst other uses of the word. I’m going to finish this series, but only because I jumped the gun and requested an ARC of the 3rd book in the trilogy. Considering my track record with this series, I can’t imagine the final book is suddenly going to make everything better. At this point, I wouldn’t really recommend this continuation series to anyone, whether you’ve read the original trilogy or not. (On the other hand, if you enjoyed the entirety of the first trilogy, that probably means that what bothered me about it doesn’t bother you, so there’s a decent possibility that you’ll enjoy these newer books more than me.)

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Book Review: Muzzled

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Muzzled
Andy Carpenter #21
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Mystery

When a fellow dog helper brings a conundrum to defense attorney Andy Carpenter, an ensuing sequence of events ruins his attempt at retirement when he ends up defending a man of murdering two people and faking his own death in a boat explosion.

As much as I enjoy the formula in this series, it’s nice to see it turned on its head now and then, and that happens big time in this book. Andy’s wit and snark is still wonderfully intact, as is his team of investigators and the tendency toward conspiracies in this series. The story overall isn’t a stand-out, and the main bad guy (at least the one we are aware of the most) doesn’t have quite the dangerous feel I’m used to. I think that’s because he actually doesn’t show up much. But there definitely still is danger, and Marcus’s services are fully warranted. In fact, Marcus has an incredibly rare special moment in this book! Grover Gardner continues to portray Andy perfectly. If it’s not clear, I recommend this book (especially the audio) for fans of mystery, crime fiction, and courtroom dramas, as well as the books that precede it in the series (and probably all that follow it, but I’m still working my way through).

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Book Review: House of Many Ways

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House of Many Ways
Howl’s Moving Castle #3
by Diana Wynne Jones
read by Jenny Sterlin

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Middle grade fantasy

Charmain just wants to be left alone to read her books, and when she’s sent to house-sit for her great uncle, she think she’ll finally be able to read as much as she wants. But this is no ordinary house. Charmain’s great uncle is a wizard and his house is full of magic, which, along with the young apprentice who shows up looking for Great-Uncle William, encroach on Charmain’s reading time.

I liked this book a fair bit more than the 2nd in the series, but not quite as much as the first. It did bring back some of the charm of Howl’s Moving Castle, but Charmain is not a terribly likeable character. She’s naïve and fairly selfish, though I can’t that it’s all her fault, since she was clearly brought up to be entirely helpless. Like the other books, the story meanders for a while, which got a little tedious for me. There are hints at the plot here or there, but nothing particularly solid, at least until it started to come together further into it. Plus, characters from the first book show up around halfway in, and I certainly enjoyed that (and they’re more “present” than they were in the previous book). Overall, it’s not a bad follow-up to the whimsical first book in the series, and for others who have read the first and wonder if they should read more, I’d say at least this third one is worth it. For me, I may someday re-read Howl’s Moving Castle, but I won’t feel the need to re-read the rest.

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Book Review: Resistance

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Resistance
The Ilyon Chronicles #1
by Jaye L. Knight

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Christian fantasy

When the self-proclaimed emperor of Arcacia begins to crack down on the worship of Elôm instead of the nation’s moon gods, it leaves many of Elôm’s followers scrambling to hide their faith or hide themselves. Kyrin has been trained since a young age to serve the emperor, but drawing too much attention to herself right now is not a good idea, given her faith. Jace is half ryrik, a race that is believed to have no soul, which means that many believe he can’t have a soul either. But he has also come to believe in Elôm as the one true God, though he can’t help but wonder if Elôm could possibly care about him. Both find a possible home at a camp for fellow believers of Elôm and hope that they can keep their new home safe.

The overall idea of this book is good, sort of a take on the time of Nero persecuting Christians, set in a medieval-like fantasy world with at least 5 different races. I particularly liked Jace’s story arc, but Kyrin’s was underwhelming in comparison. Some exciting things happen with her for sure, but it just takes a really long time to get into it. I felt like a few hundred pages could have been cut from the book and details in those pages could have been either cut completely or sprinkled throughout the rest of the book in flashbacks, memories, general backstory. Most of this excess was probably Kyrin’s story, which is likely what makes me feel like her arc was underwhelming. But there’s also the fact that there are something like 8 POV characters, which is far too much. Too many people to try to get to know, especially considering that several of them are minor characters and thus do not need their own POV. And at least one of them just seems to be there to reinforce what we’re already learning about Jace, so again, unnecessary. If I were rating just the part of this that felt like the meat of the story, it’d probably be more like 4.5 stars. But man, it just took so long to get to it.

One thing I did appreciate about Kyrin, though, is that she’s still young in her faith and not perfect by any means. She’s trying to learn to lean on Elôm but struggles with fear, because she didn’t believe in Elôm and immediately become a perfect follower. That was a realistic angle I liked. The overall Christian parallel here is really interesting and well done. Because what I liked most came in the 2nd half or so of the book, I anticipate the story picking up from here and am looking forward to seeing where the series goes. My 15-year-old daughter read it first and recommended it to me, and it looks like the book is classified as “new adult,” so I do think that older teens up through adults who enjoy Christian fiction about persecution and standing up for one’s faith. You wouldn’t really have to like fantasy to enjoy it, I don’t think, since it’s fairly light on the fantasy.

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Book Review: Odd Thomas

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Odd Thomas
Book #1
by Dean Koontz
Read by David Aaron Baker

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Paranormal thriller

Odd Thomas can see dead people, but he can also see dark shade-like creatures that tend to congregate at sites of future disaster. Between these two things, Odd is drawn to help bring justice for victims and prevent future tragedies. He works as a short order cook in a small town in California, and when he sees a large congregation of these creatures, which he calls bodachs, interested in a particular customer, he does his best to investigate so he can try to stop whatever future catastrophe might have drawn so many bodachs.

Leaving aside the paranormal aspects, this book is a thriller mystery and a race against time to stop a massacre. Adding the paranormal aspects back in, and the overall story here is engaging and inventive. Odd himself is a sympathetic hero, if maybe a little too naïve and Gary Stu-ish. He tends to draw people to himself by being a nice, quiet guy and has more than one mentor-type character. The background Koontz shows us for Odd make me happy for him that he has these other people in his life to counter-balance some truly awful parents.

I’ve only read one Koontz before this, and I loved it, but this time, I found that his tendency to describe things in way more detail than necessary slowed the story way down. There was also a lot of focus on sex and references to body parts for a book with a main character that isn’t sleeping with his girlfriend. And a couple of the major side characters I did not particularly care for. They were just over the top in their personalities. I listened to the audiobook, and I don’t know if it would have been better to read it, so I could skim some of the descriptions or worse, because then I would have struggled to get through some of it and taken a lot longer to read it. Either way, I enjoyed the book more than not and was actually kind of annoyed with myself for not clocking the slight twist at the end before it happened. Also, I am very glad that I had already read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie before reading this book, because Koontz full-on spoils it! Overall, I like the world Koontz has set up here and Odd Thomas himself enough to continue the series. I think most people who enjoy paranormal thrillers would enjoy it, but just keep in mind the slowness.

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Book Review: How to Speak Dragonese

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How to Speak Dragonese
How to Train Your Dragon #3
by Cressida Cowell
read by David Tennant

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Middle grade fantasy

When another Viking training exercise goes wrong, Hiccup and Fishlegs find themselves at the mercy of Romans and a nanodragon named Ziggerastica.

This was my favorite book in the series so far. The tiny-but-arrogant Ziggerastica is a lot of fun, Hiccup meets the heir to another Viking clan who also provides some enjoyable moments, and we get the return of a dastardly villain. Though I’m not a huge fan of the formula these books tend to have with Toothless and Fishlegs screwing up and happening upon something they otherwise wouldn’t, I enjoyed the overall journey more this time. I was considering stopping with the series after this book, but I enjoyed it too much to not keep going. Plus, I really do enjoy David Tennant’s narration, and even his interpretation of Toothless is growing on me more and more. For that matter, Toothless himself, though so different from the movie version I knew first, is growing on me with every book.

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Book Review: The Minor Rescue

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The Minor Rescue
The Amazing Adventures of Noah Minor #2
by Meredith Davis

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Middle grade fantasy

Spoiler notice: The following review will contain some spoilers for the previous book, The Minor Miracle.

In the aftermath of his encounter with Uncle Saul, anger is nearly always lurking beneath the surface of Noah Minor’s mind. He’s angry about his friend Haley’s loss of one of her gravitar abilities. Angry about his other friend Rodney’s loss of his musical know-how. Angry that the Gravitas organization has demoted him because he broke the rules involving his great uncle. And mostly angry that Uncle Saul caused all of this destruction and got away. Noah’s anger seems to make his gravitar abilities stronger, though, so he’s happy to lean into it. But when 26 middle schoolers are kidnapped, his anger may be a liability in the search for the missing kids.

This book definitely had some ups and downs for me. Noah is impulsive and impatient, and though I understood his anger at the beginning of the book, it made him a fairly unlikeable character, especially when he actually bullies others with his power. On the other hand, it is resolved in a way that is meaningful; I only wish he hadn’t been quite so harsh for quite so long. I liked the story arcs for both Haley and Rodney, though. And there’s a serious plot twist in this book that I think will have kids on the edge of their seats. Overall, this is a decent follow-up for the previous book, and I’ll keep an eye out for more to the series, especially now that Noah has gotten past his anger issues. I think kids around age 8-12 will enjoy the book, though it would make more sense to start with the first book.

Thank you to Netgalley and WaterBrook & Multnomah for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: Finding Phoebe

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Finding Phoebe
by Ellie Katz

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Coming of age YA drama

Growing up, Phoebe Carasso developed a stutter that made life difficult for her. She survived up to and through high school by relying on her twin brother, David, to talk for her, protect her, and be her best friend. After graduation, David goes to college out of state, while Phoebe is staying near home, thus forcing her to face the world on her own.

The heart of this story is overall well done, with Phoebe learning who she is without her brother and trying to navigate social situations that she used to avoid. Though “avoid” really means that she went to social events with her brother but sat in the corner. What I find the most interesting about this book is the exploration of an introvert that might not be a true introvert, but only became such due to psychological issues. Her stutter does not manifest around people she’s comfortable with, so being around strangers or mere acquaintances, which during her adolescence included everyone outside of her family, she either wouldn’t speak or would give only the shortest of responses when addressed. Thus, she’d be wiped out from every social encounter, which is the mark of an introvert. However, to my mind, at least, when Phoebe gets out into the bigger world, she actually seems quite happy to be around people. Maybe not to the point where she gains energy from it, as an extrovert would, but when she’s mostly with friends and in situations she’s grown comfortable with, she doesn’t seem as sapped of energy when she doesn’t spend as much time trying to avoid stutter. It made me question the source of my own introvertedness, if perhaps it at least wouldn’t be as strong as it is if I didn’t have the social anxiety issues that I have.

On the other side of things, though, this book suffers from being fairly bloated. There is a lot of focus on what is being eaten at meals, on outings Phoebe and various friend groups go on, and on minor details in the plans being made for those outings that are completely unnecessary to the story. By the halfway point, I started to do a lot of skimming when Phoebe and her friends were going to go ice skating or to a museum, and I think the book could have been cut down by at least 100 pages and not suffered any loss to the story and character development.

Phoebe herself comes across as nearly a Mary Sue. Yes, she has a couple of flaws, but outside of her stutter and a stubbornness that crops up close to the end of the book, she’s interested in everything, great at everything she tries, and, even though she spent all of her life until now in silence, somehow a great friend and host without really having to try too hard. She attracts everyone she meets, whether they knew her when she was still quietly sitting in her brother’s shadow or have only met her as she’s tried to break free. And there are times when she is talking to someone she only just met, says more than the 2-3 words that help her avoid her stutter—multiple full sentences that I thought must be a triumph for her, but turned out to not be anything? Maybe she was doing her other trick, very carefully enunciating the words, and the author felt it would be tedious to explain that every single time she did that, but since the alternative is that Phoebe just doesn’t stutter and somehow isn’t aware that she’s managed to avoid it, I think the reminder would have still been helpful.

Due to Phoebe’s tendency to be great at nearly everything she tries her hand at, this book has almost no conflict. Her brother provides most of it, but overall, it feels really shallow and…nice. I don’t know another word for it. Maybe because the book’s author is a psychotherapist, the characters are really good at analyzing themselves and each other (when they get past Phoebe’s stubbornness and take the time to discuss their issues). It just felt overall shallow and unrealistic to me. However, since my issues with the book are probably more based on my own personal preferences as a reader and a writer, if you’re interested in the book, please check out other reviews at the link below.

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

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