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Book Review: The Terminal List

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The Terminal List
by Jack Carr
Read by Ray Porter

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: Political/military thriller

James Reece, a Navy SEAL lieutenant commander, is on his last combat deployment when most of his team is killed in an ambush. Upon his return home, his wife and daughter are killed in a presumed home invasion. As Reece starts to follow clues, he uncovers a conspiracy that involves a lot of people and reaches into the highest levels of government.

I knew this was a revenge story going in, so I knew it wouldn’t likely be my favorite story ever. I came for Ray Porter, because as much as I love Project Hail Mary, listening to it over and over simply because Ray Porter is an outstanding narrator is a bit implausible. I’ll have to get my fix elsewhere, though, because I will definitely not be continuing this series. The narrator is the only reason I even managed to finish the book.

The main reason I disliked this book (but not the only reason, more on that later) is the sheer brutality of the revenge killings. It starts somewhat basic, maybe even cliche, but man does it go downhill quickly from there. In the book’s foreword, the Carr explains that he hoped the audience would connect with, like, and forgive James Reece. And I guess some people are able to, but if he really wanted that, maybe he shouldn’t have had his protagonist take such pleasure in some of the terrible, ridiculous ways that he tortured and killed people.

If this were the only thing about the book that bothered me, I still wouldn’t be continuing the series, but I would have rated it higher. However, Carr’s tendency to give a several-paragraph backstory to every single character when they’re first introduced or their point of view is shown made the book a bit tedious for me. I don’t need to know why conspiracy participant/victim #4 got into the public relations business or what his wife thinks about his job (just for example). Does Carr somehow think it’s better for the reader to get to know the guy that’s about to be brutally murdered? Or does he just want to pad the book?

Beyond all of that, there’s little mystery or suspense here. The conspiracy, its participants, plans to try and stop Reece, and the motivations behind it all are fed to us along the way. There is one attempt at a twist near the end of the book, which I’ll admit I didn’t specifically guess in advance. Still, it didn’t make me feel anything other than apathy, because I was already so numbed to the lack of thrills and abundance of gratuitous violence and gore in this book. I’m sure it’s clear that I don’t recommend this book to anyone, but it does have a high average rating. If you’re interested in the story and don’t mind what bothered me, please check out other reviews at the link below.

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Book Review: Never Fade

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Never Fade
The Darkest Minds #2
by Alexandra Bracken

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: YA dystopian

Spoiler notice: The following review will contain some spoilers for the previous book in the series, The Darkest Minds.

Ruby isn’t happy to be a tool of the Children’s League, though she has to admit that the training they’ve given her has been useful. When she learns about some vital information that needs to be recovered, she embarks on a mission for the League with ulterior motives. Her quest will take her across dangerous lands, into the paths of villains of all different flavors, and, ultimately, back home again.

Given the way the previous book ended, I wasn’t sure how this one was going to go or how much I would enjoy it. But I was just as engaged as I was with the first book, maybe even more so. Through 500 pages, I was caught up, surprised by revelations or small surprises, and hard-pressed to put the book down, especially in the last 1/4 or so. There are some new characters introduced here that I ended up loving, some returning characters that had new and different roles in this book, and then there’s Ruby herself. She could easily have become a character that annoyed me, continually beating herself up for the way she’s evolving, but it never got to a point of bothering me.

This is the kind of book where I find myself uncertain about who to trust, and I’m not even sure if it’s intentional or if I just wasn’t following certain aspects of the story. I also found a particular plot point (which would be a spoiler to mention) pretty unbelievable, as it relates to the previous book in the series. Overall, though, none of this was enough to make me want to lower the star rating by more than half, and I’m really looking forward to reading the final book in the trilogy.

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August in Review

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I read 17 books last month, another month above my average from the past few years. I guess it’s within range of my average for this year though, thanks to how much more time I have for audiobooks lately. Still a lot of re-reads, which means less reviews I have to write.

Here are the books I read in August:

Rise of the Elgen by Richard Paul Evans (4 / 5)
Al Capone Does My Homework by Gennifer Choldenko (5 / 5)
Thornbird by Elle Kennedy (2 / 5)
Mandie and the Charleston Phantom by Lois Gladys Leppard (3 / 5)
Persuasion by Jane Austen (3 / 5)
Living Unoffended by Brant Hansen (4 / 5)
Open and Shut by David Rosenfelt (5 / 5)
Asylum Murders by Michael G. Colburn (2.5 / 5)
Four Windows, One Jesus by Chad Colter (3 / 5)
The Land Beneath Us by Sarah Sundin (5 / 5)
So You Want to Be an Architect by Linda Soules (5 / 5)
The Ginghams by T.C. Kemper (2.5 / 5)
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris (4.5 / 5)
Scythe by Neal Shusterman (5 / 5)
Masterminds by Gordon Korman (5 / 5)
The Order of Time by Scott P. Southall (2 / 5)
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion (4 / 5)

This list includes 4 ARCs and 6 re-reads. My favorite book from August (that wasn’t a re-read) was Scythe. I started 3 series, continued 3 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: Warm Bodies

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Warm Bodies
by Isaac Marion
Read by Kevin Kenerly

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Fantasy horror (and romance, I guess)

R is a zombie with no memory of his life before he died or even how long he’s been dead. Consuming the brain of a living person allows him and his fellow zombies to experience flashes of memories of the brain’s original owner. During one particular raid on a group of the living, the memories R receives compel him to spare the life of a young woman in the group, disguise her from his fellow zombies, and take her back to the undead society where he lives, all to protect her. R is already a little different from the other zombies, but the more time he spends with Julie, the more he notices further changes.

I had a difficult time focusing my thoughts for this review and deciding how to rate the book. It’s kind of stupid in a lot of ways, and yet I enjoyed it overall. It’s a loose retelling of Romeo and Juliet, and not terribly subtle about it, but I can’t really call it romantic. R’s initial connection with Julie comes through the memories he receives from eating the brain of Perry, her long-time lover. I expected a relationship between R and Julie to develop in its own right from there, but really, he just keeps getting more from Perry somehow. I couldn’t really tell you what makes Julie so special, either to Perry or to R, as she’s fairly bland overall. I certainly don’t see why the connection between her and R is the catalyst it is for the rest of the story.

My favorite thing about the book is the worldbuilding regarding the zombies. If you’re a zombie purist and want your zombies completely mindless undead monsters with no capacity for reason or thought beyond survival instincts, caused by some kind of dystopian plague, you might not like this book. The cause for the zombiism is never explicitly stated, but it is implied, and it’s definitely not the normal cliché. Plus, R, at least, in his role as our narrator, has quite a bit of mental capacity. He has thoughts, feelings, wishes, and sentimentality. He lives in a community with other zombies, and they can even talk to each other, though in a very halting, monosyllabic way. Another way this is not your typical zombie story is that it’s far more fantasy than sci-fi. It may be set in a dystopian future, but the progression of R’s mental “interactions” with Perry and then the way the connection between R and Julie affects the rest of zombiekind are more like magic than science.

Ultimately, I was more interested in R himself and the zombie side of things (which is pretty crazy, considering my aversion to zombie fiction) than anything to do with R and Julie. Whether or not others will enjoy this book might depend a lot on their thoughts on zombie traditions and borrowed romance. I personally enjoyed listening to the book narrated by Kevin Kenerly, who did a great job with the halting zombie speech (which sounds like it must have been annoying in the text version).

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Book Review: Scythe

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Scythe
Arc of a Scythe #1
by Neal Shusterman

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: YA dystopian

When mankind discovers the secret to immortality, it might seem like utopia—no more disease, war, or corruption. Most of the world is now governed by a neutral AI cloud called the Thunderhead, and peace reigns. Though natural death may be a thing of the past, a global group of people called scythes are tasked with keeping the population from growing to an unsustainable level. Two teens, Citra and Rowan, are tapped to be scythe apprentices and learn the craft of killing. This is a task that neither of them wants, which is what makes them the perfect candidates.

Even though I’m giving this book a 5-star rating, I want to start this review with a couple of things that I didn’t like about it. I am not a big fan of violence and killing, especially when it is presented as a good thing, as it is here. Yes, it’s way more complicated than “killing is good/necessary,” but some of the people that we are rooting for become completely desensitized to the horror of murder, and I feel that consuming a lot of fiction like this can potentially do the same to the reader. The second thing is the way the author so cavalierly disregards God. Of course a book where immortality is the basis of the worldbuilding is going to eschew the reality of the Creator God, but it felt a little more intentional and biased in this book, which rubbed me the wrong way. None of the things I said here affected my rating, though, or kept me from enjoying the book.

And I did enjoy it, as much as you can enjoy a book like this. I think it was Scythe Faraday, even before I had any idea who he would become to the story, that drew me in right away. Rowan and Citra as co-apprentices are good foils for each other, which makes the dynamic between the three the heart of the story. There are a couple of other characters that I really liked as well, one of which surprised me and would be a spoiler to name.

The book kept me guessing—just when I think I’ve settled into a routine with Scythe Faraday, Citra, and Rowan, everything changes. And then changes again. When I think I know what is going to happen with someone, that person surprises me. And one of my favorite things about the story is that, even though it’s dystopian and there are terrible things happening, there’s a lot of hope, too. At the end of the book, I was excited to read more and hopeful for what’s to come. This book was recommended to me by my 16-year-old daughter, and I feel comfortable recommending it to teens and adults alike.

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Book Review: The Silence of the Lambs

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The Silence of the Lambs
by Thomas Harris
Read by Frank Muller

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Psychological horror classic

I suppose everyone knows the premise of this book by now. An elusive serial killer snatches the daughter of a politician with some pull. Trainee FBI agent Clarice Starling has established a tentative connection with imprisoned Hannibal “the Cannibal” Lecter, so in the race against time for the politician’s daughter’s life, Clarice is sent to try to get insight from him about the man behind the crimes. I read this book at least 20 years ago; I think I was in high school at the time. I don’t remember details, but it left an impression on me for sure. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the entire movie, though I’ve certainly seen some clips many times over the years.

I’ll start by saying I’m not much of a horror person. Fortunately, most of my aversions to horror are more visually based, so they weren’t really an issue while reading this book. It’s intense and cerebral, and I was really engaged with the story as it unfolded. There were a few parts that I felt dragged a little, but overall, the unfolding of events drew me in. I know that some of what is unveiled along the way lost its punch for me, because I was already aware of, for example, Buffalo Bill’s motivations or how things would play out with Lecter. Still, I enjoyed the suspense and particularly the interactions between Lecter and Clarice. I also appreciated the characterization for more than just the two main characters, including Chilton, who somehow comes across as even more villainous than Lecter. Even the side plot involving Clarice’s boss Jack Crawford could have been seen as dragging down the story, but I felt that it added a much-needed gentler, more human side to this book about serial killers.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Frank Muller, who did a superb job. I’ve read other reviews that the movie is a pretty decent adaptation and that people who have seen and enjoyed the movie find the book to be richer and deeper (which is common in these situations). If you’re considering reading this classic, whether you’ve seen the movie or not, I recommend it.

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Book Review: Persuasion

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Persuasion
by Jane Austen
Read by Nadia May

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Classic romance

This was my least favorite of the Jane Austen books I’ve read so far. I waited a while to to write this review, because I struggled with how to approach it. The main character, Anne, was basically a bystander in her own life/story. I certainly appreciated that she was the most grounded character in the book, but therein lies more of my issue. It seems to me that almost every character besides Anne and the man she’s spent 8 years wishing she hadn’t thrown over is stupid, greedy, self-absorbed, or some combination of those things. These things that bugged me may have been intentional, but it made the story less enjoyable for me. Most of the enjoyment in the book came with near the end, with the culmination of the romance. I wish we’d been able to see more of Captain Wentworth, been able to get to know him more, been able to see more of his personality. Overall, though, the book wasn’t terrible (it helps that it was fairly short), and the narration made my listening experience all the better. I prefer the other Austen books I’ve read so far, but many others seem to like this book; if you’re considering listening to the audiobook, I particularly recommend the narration by Nadia May.

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Book Review: The Ginghams

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The Ginghams
by T.C. Kemper

My rating: 2.5 / 5
Genre: Middle grade sci-fi

Best friends Joni and Tyler return home from summer camp to discover that the third member of their trio, May, is acting a little differently. Soon enough they realize that May is not the only one acting differently, and it all seems to stem from the mysterious Thursday night book clubs at the home of the newest family in town, the Ginghams. As the behavior of more and more of their schoolmates, neighbors, and others in the town begins to conform to that of the Ginghams, Joni and Tyler wonder if they can keep their own originality.

Because the book is labeled as horror and mystery, I expected something more thrilling from this book. But the villain is obvious, even if their methods aren’t, and the book seemed to be trying to make a point but missed its mark, at least for me. Although the methods involved are villainous and even horrifying, the ideals espoused by the Gingham family are not all “bad,” so mostly it seems like the author/MCs are trying to convince us that it’s bad to want kids to behave or obey their parents. Individuality/non-conformity seems to be the main theme here, but at the same time, I couldn’t escape the feeling that there was something more that the author was trying to instill in the young readers of this book.

Beyond whatever message the author may or may not have been attempting to put into this book, I found it somewhat boring. Joni and Tyler seem more bothered by the idea of losing their individuality than losing control of themselves in general. I was just never very engaged. The climax involves a disproportionately gruesome action (that I might have misunderstood, because in the end, it didn’t seem nearly as damaging as I imagined), and then there’s the way the villain is dispatched. It all felt a little dark and harsh for middle grade, at least for my preference as well as for the tone of the book up to that point. Though I didn’t enjoy the book, there are many others who did, so if you’re interested in the book, please check out other reviews at the link below.

I received an advanced review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

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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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