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Book Review: In This Bright Future

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In This Bright Future
DC Smith #5
by Peter Grainger
read by Gildart Jackson

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Detective procedural, mystery

After knee surgery, DC Smith is prescribed a few weeks of rest. But when his past comes calling, he ends up going to Belfast in Northern Ireland, rather that taking the time to recuperate. There he dredges up his past the decisions he made while undercover for England during the time of “The Troubles.”

This book is quite a departure from the rest of the series, as Smith is in a different environment, not acting as a police officer (for the most part), and working a cold case amongst people with widely varying opinions of him, due to his previous time in Belfast under a different identity. I think it was my favorite in the series so far, even though I felt really lost at the beginning. That’s starting to become normal for me in this series though—I’m confused for a while until I start to understand what is even going on, get used to any newly introduced character names, etc. I think part of it might be the narrator’s accent and part of it might be culture differences, but I’m always glad I stuck with it by the end of the book. There was even one specific moment in the book that I thought I had just missed something and would never quite understand what had happened there, but it came back up near the end and was part of a bittersweet moment.

I don’t really know a lot about the conflict in Northern Ireland, though I know more now than I did. The focus here on the search for people who are still missing is a fascinating angle to the story. Gildart Jackson unsurprisingly does a great job as narrator, bringing DC and all of the other characters to life. I recommend the book for fans of procedural crime dramas, especially with a seasoned detective and set in a small-town area of England, though this one in particular doesn’t have much of that small town. It could probably be read without reading the rest of the series first, since it’s more removed from them, though there are still references to characters and past events that might be lost on someone starting here.

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Book Review: Odd Hours

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Odd Hours
Odd Thomas #4
by Dean Koontz

My rating: 2.5 / 5
Genre: Paranormal thriller

In a foggy coastal California town, Odd Thomas crosses paths with a mysterious young woman who seems to be in danger. When that danger engulfs him, he will have to use all of his wits and psychic abilities to save his own life and many others.

Like the previous book, this one is a bit of a departure from the main premise set up in the first book of this series, that being Odd getting into situations due to either ghosts visiting him or Bodachs alerting him to some pending danger. In this book, a combination of prophetic dreams and the cryptic woman he meets because of his dream start him off on his latest quest, and though some of his psychic abilities do come into play, they’re more vague and, well, just confusing to me. Not to say that no ghostly activity occurs here, but somehow it’s just not as good as the celebrity ghost from the first three books. And there is at least one paranormal element that I either didn’t follow or isn’t explained at all (even as much as paranormal elements are ever explained in this book). 

One thing I’ve noticed about these books in the past and was amplified here is the tendency for scenes to run on. When it really comes down to it, not a lot actually happened in this book, but when Odd would get into a situation—trying to escape from bad guys or track someone down, things like that—the scene would take several chapters, more than it really seems like it should. The combination of that and the aforementioned issues, and then an unsatisfying ending, made this my least favorite book in the series. I still like Odd as a character and some of the other odd characters he tends to run into, but I’m really hoping the series gets back to its earlier roots going forward.

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Book Review: Claudia and Mean Janine

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Claudia and Mean Janine
The Baby-Sitters Club #7
by Ann M. Martin

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic

For complete transparency, I’ll say up front that I read a lot of this series when I was a kid/pre-teen. And at the time, my name was the same as the founder of the BSC (with the first name spelled slightly different). Nostalgia will hugely affect my reviews for this series, and I have no plans to try to be objective.

The main story in this book revolves around Claudia and her family, both her strained relationship with her sister as the title suggests, but also her grandmother, who has health trouble in this book. There are some really sweet moments on both of these fronts, and though maybe the conclusion to the conflict between Claudia and Janine is predictable, it’s still satisfying. The babysitting actually takes a bit of a backseat in this book, but I think the balance still works well, especially given the depth of the main story.

Whether or not this book will translate well to kids and pre-teens now, I couldn’t say. I wish I had thought to start reading this series to/with my daughter when she was around 8-10, because I think she would have enjoyed it, and we could have discussed the good and the bad of the books.

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Book Review: Bitter Winter

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Bitter Winter
The Ilyon Chronicles #5
by Jaye L. Knight

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Christian fantasy

Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, starting with Resistance.

The resistance camp near Landale suffers great tragedy that threatens to continue until the whole camp is dismantled. Can Jace save everyone he loves?

The first 4 books in the series follow the Landale resistance fighters and those that they bring into their ranks along the way as they first must figure out a way to survive the heavy persecution of their religion and then discuss at least the possibility of going on the offensive. With two rightful kings amongst their numbers, there is talk of somehow taking back their thrones and putting and end to the tyranny that begun with Emperor Daican. But first they have to make it through the winter, and that brings the forward momentum of this series to a screeching halt. This book is akin to being an episode or two away from a series finale of a television show and having to deal with a filler episode. Maybe the episode is good in its own right, or maybe not, but you really just want to know how the over-arching plot of the season is going to resolve. That’s what we have here, and it’s just as disappointing.

A couple of disastrous events leaves the camp reeling, and the entire book is spent just trying to recover/fix what happened. I think the author made several unnecessary choices in this book, maybe to make it seem more relevant after all, or maybe to evoke more emotion. Either way, I was not nearly as engaged as I have been through most of the rest of the series, hearkening back to the tedium I felt in the first half of the first book. I’ve noted before that this particular author’s style is to have far too many POV characters, so many minor characters whose perspectives don’t really add much to the story and add instead add more of a burden to try to differentiate between a lot of different voices (which I don’t think she does all that well), and here I realized that she’s also falling into the trope that everyone must have someone. Every side character that has had a POV at some point has either found a mate or is in the process of it during this book. At least one of these characters seems to only even have a POV for the purpose of us seeing him start to have an interest in someone. I like romance, I really do…but I like it to be more subtle, and even though this isn’t a straight-out romance genre series, the romance side of things is starting to feel very unsubtle.

So I didn’t really care for this, the penultimate book in the series. It wasn’t bad, and and I am still enjoying the overall world the author has set up. But I think she could have distilled this story into a side novella or even started the next book at the end of this harsh winter and caught us up on what happened, because…well, not much did. My 16-year-old daughter continues to be a huge fan of this series, and I’m sure I’m in the minority regarding this installment in the series, but I do still recommend it to older teens through adults (it’s not YA, but it’s very clean), fans of fiction with Christian elements, whether you’re really into fantasy or not.

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Book Review: Cress

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Cress
The Lunar Chronicles #3
by Marissa Meyer
read by Rebecca Soler

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: YA sci-fi

Spoiler notice: The following review will contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, starting with Cinder.

Living alone on a satellite for 7 years, Cress is tasked with working for Queen Levana but works against her any way she can. When Cinder, Scarlet, and the rest of their band of outlaws contact Cress looking for help, her life will never be the same.

This book brought back my full enjoyment for the series (not that I didn’t like Scarlet; I just didn’t like it quite as much as Cinder). Scarlet and Wolf taking more of a back seat this time helped a lot, and Cress really was a nice addition to the team. For as much as I enjoyed Thorne in the previous book, he really comes into his own here and has become one of my favorite characters in the series. I was really glad to see some advancement in the main storyline, and there’s a lot of humor throughout. 

Rebecca Soler continues to do a great job with the narration. I’m really enjoying the world Meyer has created here and the overall plot and characters, so I’m looking forward to seeing how the series ends in the next book. Fans of futuristic sci-fi and/or fairy tale retellings, maybe around age 15 and up, should definitely consider checking out this series, starting with the first book (these are not stand-alones).

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Book Review: Holy Chow

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Holy Chow
Andy Carpenter #25
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Mystery

When a woman who adopted an older Chow Chow from Andy Carpenter’s dog rescue foundation calls him and asks him if he’d be willing to take care of Lion in the event of her death and if her step-son can’t, he doesn’t expect to be called upon to fulfill that promise so soon. Tony, the step-son, is willing to take care of Lion, but being arrested for his step-mother’s murder makes that a bit difficult. It’s not long before Andy, a semi-retired defense attorney is caught up in Tony’s case.

This book is a great example of mostly following the series formula but with just enough differences to keep it fresh and fun. Since one of my favorite things about this series has always been the ways Andy’s various peripheral team members are involved, my favorite moment in this book (and what will likely forever be one of my favorite moments in the entire book) involves Marcus and made me cheer out loud while I was listening. Seriously, if you’re a Marcus fan, you cannot miss this book! Andy shines as his usual snarky, witty self, brought to life expertly by Grover Gardner. 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. Normally I’d say you can dive right in at any point in the series, but with this book, I have to say that having read at least some of the other books (probably within the last 10 or so) would make the aforementioned Marcus moment more meaningful. But because I love the series, I’d say that if you’re interested, you should just dive right in at the beginning.

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Book Review: The Accomplice

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The Accomplice
Theodore Boone #7
by John Grisham
read by Richard Thomas

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Middle grade fiction

When Theo’s friend Woody is arrested as an accomplice in an armed robbery, Theo pulls out all the stops in his position as a kid lawyer, which starts with asking his mom to help get Woody out on bail, since the juvenile public defender is too busy to help right away. Woody himself has to figure out the best way to proceed when the finger is pointed at him and the truth comes under attack.

For all the sticky and difficult situations Theo has been in during this series, what happens to his friend Woody here is the scariest. Theo actually takes a major backseat during a lot of this book, as Woody becomes a major POV character. Though I understand it, don’t fault Grisham for the decision, and did enjoy the result, I was a little sad to see so little of Theo in the final book in the series. Still, the insight into the juvenile justice system and the way that various characters step up to help however they can are all great additions to the story.

Overall, I’d say whether or not a teenager or pre-teen will be interested in this book will depend on what kind of fiction they like—if fast-paced action is important, this probably won’t suit them. If they’re interested in realistic fiction about crime and law and trials, this could be fascinating for them. And the audiobook is well-narrated, if that’s your/their speed. I have personally enjoyed this series all the way through and will definitely read/listen to it again at some point in the future. This book can definitely be read as a stand-alone, but I think that, due to Theo being a lot less involved, I wouldn’t recommend starting with this book. If you’re interested, definitely start at the beginning.

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Book Review: White

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White
The Circle #3
by Ted Dekker

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Christian fantasy thriller

Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, starting with Black.

In one reality, Thomas Hunter and the rest of the newly minted Circle try to stay out of the hands of the enemy while also debating whether it’s better to hide and stay safe or try to bring the Great Romance to that enemy. In the other reality, Thomas Hunter is dead and the threat of the virus inches ever closer. 

I think I understand more now why I had such a hard time with this series when I first read it around 20 years ago. The Christian allegory falls apart so much when it becomes more clear that these two realities are connected in some way, possibly some kind of circular time, and the “Christ” character dying and being resurrected in the previous book implies that Christ had to die twice for the sins of humanity. Which makes one not enough. That’s a huge theological issue. Then beyond those implications, when the histories are changed, the forest/desert world doesn’t seem to be affected, so does that mean they’re actually not as connected as it seems? It kind of gives me a headache to consider.

The story itself mostly plays out in a way that continues to be engaging. Though Dekker introduces a super powerful element that just sort of…goes away. I believe it comes into play in other pseudo-related books, but since it’s introduced here, used to incredible effect, and then just hand-waved away, it bugs me. I also dislike the feeling that Dekker killed off Thomas’s wife in the previous book simply to pave the way for a new romance in this book—a romance that I can’t say I cared for all that much. Couldn’t someone else in the Circle have been the romantic lead for this plot line? Maybe it wouldn’t have felt quite so forced to me then. Or maybe it wouldn’t have helped.

In the end, I like the trilogy a lot more this time than I remember like it when I was younger (or maybe this third book just tainted my memory of the first two), and I probably even liked this final book a little more than I did back then. But I feel like there was a lot of build-up for an underwhelming conclusion (though the conclusion on the “our world” side was more satisfying). Then there’s an epilogue that I think went completely over my head, and I’m pretty sure also set up more for Dekker to explore in other books, books that are not officially part of the same series but are still connected in at least tiny ways. I plan to keep going in this broad world, but I really don’t know how far I’ll get. As for this series, if you’re interested in fantastical fiction with a Christian, or at least moral, bent, you might enjoy this series. If you’d be bothered by a Christian allegory that goes pretty far afield, you might want to skip this trilogy.

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Book Review: The Curse Breaker

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The Curse Breaker
Isle of Ever #2
by Jen Calonita

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: Middle grade fantasy

Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous book in the series, Isle of Ever.

After discovering that what she thought was the end of the game to win a massive inheritance was just part 1, Everly “Benny” Benedict will have to scramble to solve more clues in time. But it turns out the betrayal by her new friend was just the beginning of the adversaries she’ll be up against now.

I didn’t enjoy the previous book a whole lot—the story wasn’t particularly compelling, fantastical elements were confusing, and I am not a fan of a dead-stop cliffhanger. But I was curious enough to at least read the 2nd book, especially since I wouldn’t have to wait very long to do so. Sadly, this book had a lot of the same issues as the previous, not enough answers given, and another cliffhanger. The characters are also fairly weak. We’ve got the girl with future sight who is wise beyond her years, yet annoyingly cryptic to the point of being coy. We’ve got the mom who is far too happy to let her daughter solve this mystery that could change their lives completely alone, running around in a new town without even checking in, all so the mom can hang out with her newest boyfriend. We’ve got the kid who has basically just jumped 200 years into the future (to our time) and frankly, I think it was the wrong decision to make him a POV character, because I don’t think enough time was really given to him trying to understand this new world.

Some revelations do come out in this book, one of which I guessed way in advance, but I think the clues were intentionally dropped to allow that possibility. I don’t know what, if anything, it really means for the characters, though. And the urgency in the first book with the deadline is just wiped away in this book—extended, actually, but it still feels far too much like obvious plot contrivance for my enjoyment. In the end, I have no desire to continue on to the third book. I don’t care enough about what happens to the island or anyone who is trapped on/by it to keep reading something that I don’t really get any enjoyment out of. However, these books have a lot of 4- and 5-star reviews, so please look into those if the series interests you at all.

Thank you to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Kids for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: Persons of Interest

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Persons of Interest
DC Smith #4
by Peter Grainger
read by Gildart Jackson

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Detective procedural, mystery

When DC Smith’s old mobile phone number is found in the cell of a man who was murdered in prison, he can’t help but want to investigate, even though it’s not his case. Fortunately, it’s not long before he finds a connection to his own town that makes his unauthorized investigating a little easier.

I’m starting to really get into the groove of these books and Grainger’s sense of humor, especially as seen through Smith himself. I’m also finally starting to get more familiar with some of the recurring characters; I kept feeling lost in the first few books trying to remember names. The mystery here is engaging, as Smith follows his own threads while still (sometimes just barely) managing to do his assigned job. I enjoy Smith’s view of his work and those around him and the way he’s tough and wise. He’s clearly not beloved by all of his colleagues/bosses, but it wouldn’t be realistic if he was.

Gildart Jackson unsurprisingly does a great job as narrator, bringing DC and all of the other characters to life. I recommend the book for fans of procedural crime dramas, especially with a seasoned detective and set in a small-town area of England. I’ve been saying that I don’t think you’d really need to start at the beginning of the series, but past cases do have continued presence in later books and the first book is spoiled a bit in this one, so keep that in mind.

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