BookWyrms Book Club

[Arazia]

Welcome!

This is an off-topic group for those of us who happen to enjoy reading and want to share some of that interest with others. This thread is meant to offer encouragement for people to read, review, and discuss the books that they've read.

What we do here:
- Read books.
- Review books.
- Discuss books.
- Offer suggestions to people looking for new books to read.

Obviously, there are times when people are going to disagree on a book or series, but try to be polite and respectful and understand that everyone has a right to their own opinions. Also, there are obviously spoilers which some people do not want to know going into a series. Try to avoid spoilers when you can, but please keep in mind that they may appear in people's reviews. People reviewing, try to put any spoilers into a separate section labeled as such so people can choose not to read it if they want. Please avoid any books which would be considered of an 'adult' nature.

A review should contain:

Code: Select all

Book/Series Name:
Author:
Genre:
Rating: (or your best guess)
Plot: (A basic overview of the story without giving all the details away.)
Review: (This is where you can share your views on the story.)

P.S. I will probably post a review in the next few days, so no one else has to feel like the first one.

And... to start us off...

Introductory Question: What book are you currently reading? Why did it catch your interest?

[Arazia]

Current Book: "Horde" by Ann Aguirre (#3 Razorland Series)
Age Rating: 12-18+

The Razorland series follows a group of young characters in a post-apocalyptic version of New York as they struggle fur survival against the "Freaks". The "Freaks" seem to be your usual horror-film zombies, at least at first. It's an interesting series for the dynamics of the characters, who tend to grow and change quite a lot as they face various trials throughout the novels. It can be a bit gorey at times, but that's pretty normal for a zombie-theme.

This is the last book in the series, so I will probably have a better overview/review of the whole series by the end.

--

Speaking of ends... I just finished "Allegiant" (Divergent #3) by Veronica Roth.

At some point, when I've settled a bit from the ending of this series, I'll do a more detailed review. What I will say is that I did enjoy this series and thought that the author was quite creative at a lot of points in creating conflict, and some of the more surprising twists that I'd encountered in a while. This last book, is... an end. There was a point where the story wrapped up, and I sat looking at the 40+ minutes of book remaining wondering what else the author could do to me in that remaining time? I'm left with a lot more questions than I would have liked, but I think this is one of those series where you are expected to come to your own conclusions about the ending.

--

Speaking of more ends... Before this, I had just finished the the "Uglies" ("Uglies", "Pretties", "Specials") trilogy by Scott Westerfeld. (I say Trilogy as there are four books, but the last one is more of a 'tack on' than a real novel in the series.)

This is the one that people may have seen me in the chat commenting on, as I got 2/3rds of the way through the final book and was really struggling with even continuing the book. This series, at least for me, is a bit hard to swallow. The premise is a bit out-there... with people having made the world more 'equal' by giving everyone surgery at age sixteen so that they are all equally 'pretty' on some scale decided by a government body. It's a wacky idea, but once you get past the main character's obsession with vanity, it seems to work... vaguely. Unfortunately, it comes with an annoying habit of 'resetting' the main character every book, which got really boring by the third time it happens.

The first book slogs like nobody's business, and only seems to go anywhere in the later parts. The second book, is by far the best as the character really seems to come into her own. The third... is a slap in the face. It really is. If you grew to love the main character... well, she's pretty much non-existent due to the 'reset' in this book, and her personality doesn't start re-asserting itself until /waaaaay/ late in the book, and never fully. (No, seriously. During the add-on book "Extras", she plays a major role, and still isn't the person she was in book 1 or 2.) The main character, in this last book, sickens me with her viewpoints which makes it very hard to get through. Yet, none of this is what made me want to put it down. What did, was the absolutely callous way that the author handled the death of a major character. The death seemed to make no sense. It seemed thrown in just to punish the main character, and happened in such a way that it really made the dead character seem pathetic and weak. Not to mention... that the character is given all of about five minutes of the story for anyone to be upset, and then they pretty much go unmentioned for the rest of the novel.

This series came to me very highly recommended. I honestly have no idea why.

[Celestine8]

I just finished Dark Heroine by Abigail Gibbs!

So,

Dark Heroine Book 1 Dinner with a Vampire
Abigail Gibbs
16+, maybe even 18+
I'd rate it 8/10

I will start off by saying that supernatural romance is a guilty pleasure of mine. It's often pretty cliche'd and not exactly the highest caliber of literature, but that in mind. I really liked this book, but sort of disliked myself for liking it. The characters are very interesting, the author has thought of something new and inventive for vampires and other supernatural creatures, for once. The book series has its own mythos which is unique and intriguing. The plot is quite good and even a little unpredictable. The main character follows the trope of a girl who has all of these horrible events happens to her and comes out on top in the end through basically toughening up. My main issue was the issue of consent in sexual scenes. There are a few scenes in the beginning in which the main love interest almost sexually assaults the main character and consent is questionable in a few other scenes. Yet, I must admit to really loving him as a unique monster. That's really the point here. Kaspar isn't a human who's been dead for a long time and neither are his family. They're monsters, but you end up getting to like many as you see that they've been twisted by living forever and by the pain of countless losses. The main character is likable and strong and seems like a girl that I'd want to get to know. The end left me with mixed feelings. In a way, it was a huge loss and selfish and perhaps a bit naive of the main characters, but in another, it wasn't any of those things. Worth your time if you can get past the consent issues and if you aren't sick of the tsundere trope, as Kaspar really fits in that mold.

[Tora]

*WARNING*

I'm recommending some things here that are in no ways for more sensitive book lovers. Seek them out at your own risk.

Book/Series Name: Marabou Stork Nightmares
Author:{/b] Irvine Welsh
[b]Genre: Fiction

Plot: A man in a coma alternately has dreams about pursuing and exterminating the Marabou Stork from the African serenghetti and memories of his life and what led him to this point.

Review: Irvine Welsh is a Scottish writer and tends to write a lot of his characters dialogue in phonetic Scottish accents, so it can be a little tricky to parse sometimes. But regardless, it's a pretty impressive piece of writing. It's a book full of awful people doing pretty awful things and that is the nicest thing I can say about it. That's not to say this is a bad book, it's actually an incredible piece of story-telling, especially the way the narrative is actually worked out. It starts with the narrator and main character discussing their safari, only to start suddenly shifting in tone and style, making you realize that he's in a coma and thinking of these events and memories. The book alternates between his quest to erradicate the Marabou Stork and talking about growing up in Glasgow in a tenement building.

I will say this now. This is a deeply disturbing and unpleasant book. I ended up reading it because my husband said it freaked him out to the point where Marabou storks gave him the creeps. And after reading through the book, I get what he meant. Irvine Welsh writes about truly horrific stuff in such an uncompromisingh and direct way, it makes it hard not to get sucked into what he's thrown in your face.


Book/Series Name: Haunted
Author: Chuck Palahniuk
Genre: Horror

Plot: This is what it says on the back cover:

HAUNTED is a novel made up of twenty-three horrifying, hilarious, and stomach churning stories. They're told by people who have answered an ad for a writers' retreat and unwittingly joined a "Survivor"-like scenario where the host withholds heat, power, and food. As the storytellers grow more desperate, their tales become more extreme, and they ruthlessly plot to make themselve the hero of the reality show that will surely be made from their plight.

Review: This book is exactly like witnessing some horrific event hapopening right in front of you; as much as you want to turn away, you just can't. because you need to know what happens next. It's a series of framing poems, individual stories about each of the people in the retreat and scenarios of what they're doing in the old theatre the retreat is at. I wish I could write more for this review, but honestly, I'd probably give something away. I will say, however, that the first story, "Guts" was told by Palahniuk at a number of book releases. He's made almost 80 people faint as a result.