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Book Review: The Power of Six

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The Power of Six
Lorien Legacies #2
by Pittacus Lore

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: YA sci-fi

Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous book in the series, I Am Number Four.

John Smith’s attempt to stay out of the hands of the Mogadorians and the FBI is interspersed with the introduction of another of the Garde, number seven out of nine who are meant to be the saviors of their planet Lorien. Where John has been on the move throughout his time on Earth, Seven—known as Marina—has been living in a convent orphanage for years. But she’s not as safe as she seems to be.

I don’t know…I enjoyed the previous book quite a bit. John and Henri’s father-son-like relationship was the heart of the story, and we’re completely missing anything resembling a heart in this one. I already didn’t really care about John’s relationship with Sarah in the previous book, and now I am supposed to care about a love triangle? John is beating himself up over the fact that he’s “supposed to” love only Sarah all his life, because Henri had told him that Loriens love only one person for life. But he (and the author) failed to keep in mind that 16-year-old love isn’t necessarily real love. I get the feeling, though, that the author(s) just assume that YA is supposed to have a love triangle.

Meanwhile, in the sections about Marina, not a whole lot happens. Her Cepan has turned her back on her and Marina’s heritage and Marina is dealing with bullies, both in the form of peers and nuns. Again, it seems like the author(s) just took every trope of YA (in this case, the MC being bullied) and put it all into a story. John’s and Sam’s choices at various points are pretty terrible, which maybe points to them being badly in need of a wise adult, but mostly makes them seem inept. There’s a lot of action, though I’m not a huge fan of major fighting/battle scenes. Overall, this one just didn’t work as well as the first one did for me. Still, I’m interested to see what happens, since there’s clearly an over-arcing plot going on. I just hope the characters get a little wiser.

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Book Review: As Good As Dead

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As Good As Dead
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder #3
by Holly Jackson

My rating: 1.5 / 5
Genre: YA mystery, suspense

Well…I’ve put off writing this review as long as I could. I don’t know how much I can say without giving spoilers, but I’ll try. I’m really disappointed by the turn this book took from the series before it. Not only does Pip cross some major ethical/moral lines (which she also did in the previous book, but not nearly to the same extent), the mystery is nearly non-existent, is not solved by Pip at all, and is wrapped up halfway through the book. The second half is given over to the stuff I can’t talk about without spoiling it.

During that first half, while the not-very-mysterious mystery is unfolding, Pip is suffering some severe PTSD from what happened at the end of the previous book. While I can’t really say that her trauma is unrealistic or too extreme, since I’ve never gone through what she did, it definitely feels overdone. It’s certainly a preference thing, but my preference is to not have a book like this so bogged down by a main character who is falling apart and dealing with it in all the worst ways. 

As for the spoilers, I don’t want share them here and risk anyone accidentally seeing something they wish they hadn’t. If you want to read the spoiler part of my review, follow this link to my review on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6243264646 (Once there, click on the spoiler tag midway through the text.)

Not only did I not enjoy this book, but it also seems likely to me that the author planned this ending from the start. Though I really enjoyed the first two books in the series, I don’t know that I’ll ever want to re-read them, and I also don’t think I’ll be able to trust another book/series by this author. As for a recommendation, it’s difficult to recommend any of this series, knowing how it ends, and knowing that the books are connected enough that stopping at #2 might feel incomplete. Plenty of others weren’t bothered by what I was, both the spoiler and the non-spoiler parts, so maybe you won’t be either.

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Book Review: Payback

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Payback
Masterminds #3
by Gordon Korman

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: YA sci-fi adventure, suspense

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

Split up and suffering the sting of betrayal, the four teens from Serenity, New Mexico, the happiest town on earth, have to decide whether their own freedom is worth risking to try to save their fellow clones from Serenity.

This is an exciting and satisfying conclusion to a trilogy that I have enjoyed all the way through. Though nothing can quite match the reveal in the first book, there were still some surprises in this one. It was maybe a tiny bit anti-climactic, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing in a book like this, especially one written for pre-teens. Like the previous books, each teen’s perspective is shown at different times, all in 1st person, and by now they’re all familiar voices. I especially appreciated Malik’s arc, which I was really starting to think was going to go a different way. I highly recommend this book, and the entire series, for teens and even adults who enjoy suspenseful teen books (though definitely start at the beginning).

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Book Review: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

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The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Hercule Poirot #4
 by Agatha Christie
read by Hugh Fraser

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Classic mystery

All my life, I’ve heard of Agatha Christie and her most famous character, Hercule Poirot. As a reader of mystery novels all the way back to my school days, I always thought I was missing out on something by not reading any Christie, yet for whatever reason, I couldn’t bring myself to do so. Now that I have read 3 of her novels, and now one of the most loved of the Poirot stories, I find they’re a bit of a letdown. It seems to be a common theme for me when I read highly acclaimed classics, but it often seems like I’m missing what others are seeing. With each of these books, I realize more and more that there’s just way more story than I feel is necessary. I tend to zone out while I’m listening and then realize I don’t really know what’s going on. That’s my own fault, I know, but I think it’s mostly due to me not connecting well with the prose.

I do understand why this book is one of the most acclaimed Poirot story, and I’m not going to pretend I figured out the ending before we got there, but it was just a little too late to make the rest of the story more interesting. I’m also not sure how I feel about the blatant trickery Christie used throughout this book (blatant after the fact, not during). I do still think that Hugh Fraser does a great job narrating. I’m not giving up on the series yet, but I have a feeling it won’t be long.

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Book Review: Dragon and Liberator

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Dragon and Liberator
Dragonback #6
by Timothy Zahn

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: YA sci-fi adventure

Spoiler notice: The following review will contain some spoilers for previous books in the series, which starts with Dragon and Thief.

Jack and Draycos race to stop those who are intent on wiping out Draycos’s people, and are now being aided in their quest by Alison Kayna and Taneem. When their plans go awry, both pairs of human and K’da must improvise and decide what it’s worth to them to stop the genocide of two races.

I’ve been anticipating an exciting end to this series, and it didn’t disappoint. It seems clear to me that Zahn had at least the skeleton of this entire story planned out from the beginning, as different pieces fall into place in this final book in ways that thrilled me. I even cheered at one point, which caused my husband to give me a funny look. The friendship between Jack and Draycos has been one of my favorite things about this series, and though the action squeezes the characterization out a bit in this book, I still appreciate the way it all comes together in the end.

I’m not generally interested in heavy sci-fi, but the fact that it’s written for teens probably helps make it more accessible for someone like me. I really enjoyed this series overall and recommend it for any fans of this kind of sci-fi, young or old.

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Book Review: The Hidden Staircase

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The Hidden Staircase
Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #2
by Carolyn Keene
read by Laura Linney

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic mystery

Continuing on with listening to these old books that I somehow didn’t pay attention to when I was younger, one of the things I enjoyed about this book was the setting and the feeling of being transported back in time. Communication was slow, houses were thought of as haunted, and teenage girls were tasked with solving mysteries. Okay, that last one might not have been true-to-life even in the 30s, but somehow it just feels plausible in these books. And though there are some fairly obvious coincidences in this book, I’m sure that the kids in the age group it was meant for wouldn’t pick up on them as easily and would enjoy the excitement of the mystery. Laura Linney again does well bringing Nancy to life, making the audiobook a great option for this series.

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Book Review: Bury the Lead

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Bury the Lead
Andy Carpenter #3
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Mystery

Defense attorney Andy Carpenter takes on a client who has been receiving communication from a serial killer, tasked with protecting the journalist by his boss. But then the man is accused of the most recent murder, and Andy’s job has changed drastically. The only problem is that he’s not 100% certain that his client isn’t actually guilty.

This book takes some definite turns from the series so far, with Andy being brought in even more unwillingly as defense attorney for an accused murderer. The story takes a lot of turns near the end, and I’m not really sure that Andy himself does a lot to solve the various mysteries tied up in the case. Certain things are kind of handed to him or done for him, though not in a way that made me feel like he was a weak MC. The cast of side characters he’s started to draw around him add to my enjoyment of this book.

There were a couple of things that I didn’t care for in this book, like the over-the-top dog love that actually lacked logic at one point for me (it’s not okay to make a dog sleep outside, but it is okay to expect a dog to live on a boat?), but overall, I enjoyed the mystery and the characters. Fans of mystery, crime fiction, and courtroom dramas should consider reading this book. Grover Gardner is the definitive voice of Andy Carpenter, bringing Andy’s wit and sarcasm to life, so if you’re an audiobook listener, I’d suggest trying that out for this series. 

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Book Review: The Black Book of Buried Secrets

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Storm Warning
The 39 Clues
by Mallory Kass

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Children’s mystery, adventure

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

After the 39 Clues finale, a new threat has arisen, leading the separate branches of the Cahill family to come together and share their secrets. Broken down into a section for each of the 5 branches, this book covers founders and agents (though I’m not 100% sure what the difference is, since some of the founders are current…how can they be founders 500 years after the branch was founded?), strongholds, and tools and tricks used by each branch. It’s a good follow-up to the series, with some reminders of locations, names, or events that were brought up during the series, as well as new information. The brief vignettes that show some of the major characters from the series after the end of the clue hunt were great to have, and there are even a couple of short stories about historical characters looking for clues or being recruited by Cahills. There are a few things explained in this book that I at first thought must be spoilers of what is technically the final book in the series, though also a launching point for the first spin-off series. That book was published after this one, so I hope that’s not the case, but I won’t know until I read it (Vespers Rising).

The introduction by Rick Riordan, which depicts the different authors from the series as members of the Cahill branch, meeting to discuss sharing their secrets for this book, is clever and enjoyable. Fans of the 39 Clues series will probably find the brief stories and extra information in this book worth reading.

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Book Review: Dragon and Judge

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Dragon and Judge
Dragonback #5
by Timothy Zahn

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: YA sci-fi adventure

Spoiler notice: The following review will contain some spoilers for the previous book in the series, Dragon and Herdsman.

As Jack continues to try to help Draycos, the dragon-like symbiont that uses him for a host, track down who killed his people, the pair take what is meant to be a brief detour to a planet where Jack’s Uncle Virgil used to visit a bank to replenish his funds. But as soon as they arrive on the planet, Jack is mistaken for a circuit judge, and he and Draycos are whisked away to an inescapable canyon to hear several years’ worth of disputes.

I really expected this book to be quite a departure from the series, but I think it was a bit more connected even than the previous book. Real answers are given to the investigation into the impending K’da genocide, and secrets from Jack’s past are exposed. The unusual race of beings that force Jack into presiding over their disputes showcases Zahn’s worldbuilding abilities; however, I felt that there was a lot more that could have been explained about their system of uprights and number names. Though I’m not a huge fan of Alison Kayna, I also enjoyed her side story, as she’s abducted and brought to Neverlin, due to being the one who actually ends up opening Uncle Virgil’s bank box. Her growing connection with her own K’da symbiont is quite different from Jack and Draycos’s but also an intriguing part of the story. Overall, I’ve really enjoyed this series and am highly anticipating the last book and hopefully the salvation of the K’da and Shontine.

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Book Review: Embers in the London Sky

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Embers in the London Sky
Allegiance Under Pressure #1
by Sarah Sundin

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Christian historical romance

While fleeing the Netherlands that has just been invaded by the German army, Aleida’s abusive husband sends their son with strangers, shortly before losing his own life to the Germans. Once in London, she starts a long, difficult search for her son. There, she meets Hugh Collingwood, a BBC radio correspondent trying to inform the public and boost morale while reporting on the Blitz. When his uncle and friend are murdered, it looks like the bombs falling on the city every night aren’t the only danger.

In a way, this book almost seems like two different stories. The first is a combination of Aleida searching for her son while also trying to shine light on the way some of the kids are treated as they’re evacuated out of London during the Blitz and Hugh trying to maintain integrity in his reporting while struggling against the threat of censorship. This main part of the story kept me engaged, and I liked seeing these different sides of London during this part of history. Then the book turns into a murder mystery as Aleida and Hugh, both apart and separately, try to solve a series of murders. I’m a fan of mystery, and the rest of the story was interesting enough that I didn’t need the mystery angle to be expanded on. Still the pacing of the mystery being in the background for a long time to then suddenly jump into the foreground threw me off just a little. 

I appreciated the development of the relationship between Aleida and Hugh and that it didn’t come across as the main point of the story. I prefer a subtle romance, and Aleida and Hugh developed a great foundation of friendship first. Though some of the drama involving their relationship felt too much like it was thrown in there just to prolong the inevitable declarations of love. I look forward to the next book, which appears to be about Aleida’s cousin, who is still in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands, and I recommend this one to anyone who likes historical fiction from this time period in the Christian romance genre.

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

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