Review - Jackaby by William Ritter

Jackaby by William Ritter

Series: Standalone

Published by Algonquin Young Readers on September 16 2014

Genres: paranormal, historical fiction, young adult

Pages: 304

Rating: 3 stars

Newly arrived in New Fiddleham, New England, 1892, and in need of a job, Abigail Rook meets R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with a keen eye for the extraordinary--including the ability to see supernatural beings. Abigail has a gift for noticing ordinary but important details, which makes her perfect for the position of Jackaby’s assistant. On her first day, Abigail finds herself in the midst of a thrilling case: A serial killer is on the loose. The police are convinced it’s an ordinary villain, but Jackaby is certain it’s a nonhuman creature, whose existence the police--with the exception of a handsome young detective named Charlie Cane--deny. 

Doctor Who meets Sherlock in William Ritter’s debut novel, which features a detective of the paranormal as seen through the eyes of his adventurous and intelligent assistant in a tale brimming with cheeky humor and a dose of the macabre. 

As you probably know, Jackaby has been described as a cross between Sherlock and Doctor Who. Unlike most people, I was somewhat wary of this comparison. Don’t get me wrong, I like Doctor Who and I’ve seen the first two seasons of BBC’s Sherlock (though Elementary is superior in every possible way). The problem that these two shows share is that they are both led by the same misogynistic pig of a showrunner: Steven Moffat. This guy is an absolute tool. He’s responsible for running Doctor Who right into the ground, and he’s a self-congratulating, arrogant, pompous jerk-off. Clearly this is something I feel strongly about.

So! Coming back to Jackaby – I was interested to see how Ritter would put his own spin on the commonalities between Sherlock and Doctor Who and whether he would manage to allay some of the more offensive aspects of the two shows he is clearly pulling inspiration from. And yes I know that both Sherlock (the original stories and the franchise) and Doctor Who existed long before Moffat came around, but upon reading this book it is obvious that BBC Sherlock and Moffat’s era of DW are Ritter’s primary inspirations.

Thankfully, Jackaby is a pretty woman-friendly novel. It didn’t strike me as particularly offensive in any way, which I am grateful for. However, I did find it lacking in a few other ways. Though the main character, Abigail, has her interesting points, I felt that she lacked in depth. She is very trusting of the people around her – she is a young woman all alone on an unfamiliar continent in the late Victorian period and she struck me as incredibly naïve and accepting. Rather than doing any planning, Abigail whirled from event to event without any real agency. The only times she showed any backbone were when she ineffectually threw books at the villain and when she argued with Jackaby at the end of the book. For the most part, she just went with whatever was going on around her without much question. I found her almost instant acceptance and trust in Jackaby very unrealistic. I find it hard to believe that a woman in her position would be so unguarded.

I also found Jackaby trying as a character. He was incredibly inconsistent. It was as though Ritter was attempting to combine Sherlock Holmes and the Doctor into the same character, but it failed completely. His eccentric nature was irritating rather than endearing, and he constantly bounded between the positivity of the Doctor and the misanthropy of Sherlock. It was exhausted and simply didn’t make sense.

The three other principle characters – Charlie Cane, Jenny, and Detective Marlowe – are very hollow. We know very little about any of them beyond their surface characteristics. The semi-romance between Charlie and Abigail is very stilted and hard to support. I have no idea what exactly Abigail liked about Charlie, and vice versa.

Finally, the supernatural elements lacked finesse. The mystery was incredibly obvious (I figured out who the villain was the first time he was introduced) and the mythology just wasn’t that interesting. I did like how magical creatures were everywhere, but I wish there was an explanation for why Jackaby happened to be able to see what no one else could. It struck me as all too convenient that only one person in the entire world had the ability to witness the paranormal creatures of the world.

Though I enjoyed reading this book and didn’t find it grossly appalling, I find that a closer examination is poking holes all over the text and exposing more and more things that just didn’t add up for me. I wouldn’t tell anyone not to read this, but I don’t think I’d purchase it either. It just wasn’t as good as it could have been, and I found it rather disappointing as a whole.

DNF Round-Up (2)

Bittersweet by Colleen Mccullough
Series: Standalone
Published by Simon & Schuster on August 19 2014
Genres: Adult, Romance, Historical Fiction
Pages: 352
DNF'd at 54% 

This is the story of two sets of twins, Edda and Grace, Tufts and Kitty, who struggle against all the restraints, prohibitions, laws and prejudices of 1920s Australia. Only the submissive yet steely Grace burns for marriage; the sleekly sophisticated Edda burns to be a doctor, the down-to-earth but courageous Tufts burns never to marry, and the too-beautiful, internally scarred Kitty burns for a love free from male ownership. 

Turbulent times, terrible torments, but the four magnificent Latimer sisters, each so different, love as women do: with tenderness as well as passion, and with hearts roomy enough to hold their men, their children, their careers and their sisters.

Bittersweet started off strong, but quickly petered out. Around the 20% mark I started to grow frustrated with the inconsistent pacing and the constantly shifting point of view. At first I thought that it was a book that would follow the four sisters in a limited omniscient third person point of view, but at some point it seemed to shift into a omniscient third person, and far too many pages were wasted on the men in the book, who I just didn't care an iota about. 

The only saving grace this book had for me was Kitty. At the beginning of the book, I thought that Edda would be my favourite of the four sisters. Boy, was I wrong about that! She ended up being my least favourite of the bunch! She was snobby and judgemental and very rigid. I found it immensely difficult to relate to her, which was troubling due to the fact that she received the most attention of the sisters in the narrative. I found Grace and Tufts quite boring, and didn't particularly care about them one way or another. The only person I even remotely liked was Kitty, due to her salty tongue. She may have the face of an angel, but this girl can throw out some impressive insults! 

The lack of connection I felt to the characters, the impersonal nature of the narrative, and the problematic pacing aside, I made it through just over half of this book. It was a random, lengthy lesson in the history, politics, and economics of early 20th century Australia that convinced me that this book wasn't worth finishing. Despite a promising first few chapters, I was ultimately underwhelmed and often frustrated by Bittersweet, and feel no desire to find out what occurs next in these characters lives.

Eat, Brains, Love by Jeff Hart
Series: Eat, Brains, Love #1
Published by HarperTeen on October 1 2013
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Zombies
Pages: 352
DNF'd at 66%

The first chapter of Eat, Brains, Love hooked me in really well. It was funny and inventive and interesting and it caught my attention. It was the introduction of Cass that threw me for a loop. This is a book about zombies, what do I need a weird psychic girl who works for the government for? I was never enthused or excited when I reached Cass' chapters, and I never grew to like her as a character. I think that this book would have been much more successful if it had been the story of Jake and Amanda. I think there is a romance between Jake and Cass later on, which grossed me out. Not because Jake is a zombie - because Cass has been inside his mind, which is clearly a total invasion of privacy.

I really enjoyed the fact that Jake was the kind of guy I grew up around - smoking weed and playing video games and blowing off homework. I couldn't help but think that I would have liked him a bit more if he'd been gender-swapped - same characteristics and personality and hobbies, but a girl. It's just a little more unexpected and interesting. Aside from that, I thought the tone of the book was a little on the younger side of YA. I liked the inclusion of the badass lesbian zombie couple though. They were fun, and I'd have liked to stick around with them a little bit longer. As the plot became less "zombies on the run" and more "government corruption" I decided to bow out. It's just not for me.

ARC Review - Nihal of the Land of the Wind by Licia Troisi

Nihal of the Land of the Wind by Licia Troisi

Series: Chronicles of the Overworld #1

Published by OpenRoad Media on May 27 2014

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy

Pages: 230

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

An international bestseller from an extraordinary storyteller—get ready for Nihal and her world. 

Nihal lives in one of the many towers of the Land of the Wind. There is nobody like her in the Overworld: big violet eyes, pointed ears, and blue hair. She is an expert in swordplay and the leader of a handful of friends that includes Sennar the wizard. She has no parents; brought up by an armorer and a sorceress, Nihal seems to be from nowhere. 

Things suddenly change when the Tyrant takes charge. Nihal finds herself forced to take action when she is faced with the most difficult mission a girl her age could imagine. 

Fierce, strong, and armed with her black crystal sword, Nihal sets out to become a real warrior. Readers will be riveted as she forges her powerful path of resistance.

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Translated into English from Italian, Licia Troisi’s debut novel gets off to a grand start. The beginning of Nihal of the Land of the Wind isn’t particularly original, but it is immersive and does an excellent job of introducing the reader to both the extensive setting and many of the important characters. It isn’t until the second half of the novel that everything starts to fall apart.

As a child, Nihal is intrinsically likeable. The daughter of a renowned blacksmith, Nihal’s favourite hobby is playing at war with the other neighbourhood children (all boys, because apparently no other girls want to engage in pretend battles). She is free spirited and independent and tenacious. When she is bested in combat by a sorcerer (she forgot to stipulate that there be no magic in their fight), Nihal decides to learn magic in order to be the best warrior she can be. However, this is where Nihal’s likeable/sympathetic traits end. I spend most of the novel irritated by Nihal’s behaviour. She grows from a tenacious child to a ruthless and narrow-minded young woman, throwing her all into killing. Despite what the book seems to suggest, I never really felt like Nihal learned that her attitude towards war was a detriment to herself and everyone around her. She was incapable of helping anyone but herself, and it was dangerous.

The only character I really liked or sympathized with was Sennar, and even he was particularly memorable. I found his crush on Nihal very frustrating because I was so hoping to see a book in which a young girl and a young boy can be friends without developing romantic feelings for one another. On a similar note, I wish that Nihal hadn’t had a crush on Fen. It would have been much more interesting for her to simply admire him and aspire to be like him without that element.

The plot was quite predictable. I found it to have echoes of Tamora Pierce and Mercedes Lackey’s popular ‘80s series, but it didn’t live up to the high bar that those two incredible women set. The writing, while not distractingly bad, wasn’t particularly interesting or notable in any way. The world building, on the other hand, was quite impressive. It was particularly well-integrated for the first book in a series. It was very vivid and for the most part was well thought out.

I don’t think that I’d actively recommend this as do think that the negatives outweigh the positives, but it depends on what the reader is looking for in the book. Unfortunately, I simply didn’t find it particularly memorable or original.

ARC Review - The Queen's Exiles by Barbara Kyle

The Queen’s Exiles by Barbara Kyle

Series: Thornleigh #6

Published by Kensington on May 27 2014

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 352

Rating: DNF at 42%

1572. Europe is in turmoil. In the Netherlands the streets are red with the blood of those who dare to oppose the brutal Spanish occupation. A vengeful faction of exiled English Catholics is plotting to overthrow Queen Elizabeth and install her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots on the throne. But amid the unrest, one resourceful young woman has made a lucrative enterprise ... 

Scottish-born Fenella Doorn rules like a queen over a privateer's haven on the Isle of Sark. Her success at salvaging crippled vessels affords her gold and security, and it is on one of these ships that she meets wealthy Baron—and privateer—Adam Thornleigh. Secretly drawn to him, Fenella can’t refuse when Adam enlists her to join him in war-torn Brussels to help find his traitorous wife, Frances—and the children she’s taken from him.  

But Fenella’s own bold actions have put a price on her head. Now Adam and Fenella’s lives are in peril as they race across Europe in an attempt to rescue his young ones, defend the crown, and restore the peace that few can remember.

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I tried really hard to like this book. It didn’t particularly offend my sensibilities in any way – the characters were decent, though I thought that it would have benefited from tightening up the number of characters it followed. I think it may have worked better for me if it only focused on Fenella and Adam, rather than Fenella, Adam, Isobel, Carlos, Frances, etc. I found myself dreading picking it up again, not sure which character I’d be following next, or whether I’d want to follow them at all. The only characters I truly cared about were Fenella and Adam, so it felt silly to me to feature the rest so heavily.

My biggest complaint is that the pacing was dreadful. It never really felt like anything was happening, and even when they did I found there to be a lack of urgency in the writing. I never feared for the characters, despite the frightening and risky situations they put themselves in. This was what really determined whether or not I would continue reading this book. If it were based merely on the characters and the plot, I feel like I would have greatly enjoyed The Queen’s Exiles. Unfortunately the writing made me nod off after about fifteen or twenty minutes of reading, whether I was tired or not. In my opinion, that is a sign that a book is just not meant for me.

ARC Review - We Are the Goldens by Dana Reinhardt

We Are the Goldens by Dana Reinhardt

Series: Standalone

Published by Wendy Lamb Books on May 27 2014

Genres: young adult, contemporary

Pages: 208

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Nell knows a secret about her perfect, beautiful sister Layla. If she tells, it could blow their world apart. 

When Nell and Layla were little, Nell used to call them Nellaya. Because to Nell, there was no difference between where she started and her adored big sister ended. They're a unit; divorce made them rely on each other early on, so when one pulls away, what is the other to do? But now, Nell's a freshman in high school and Layla is changing, secretive. And then Nell discovers why. Layla is involved with one of their teachers. And even though Nell tries to support Layla, to understand that she's happy and in love, Nell struggles with her true feelings: it's wrong, and she must do something about it.

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I love books about sisterhood, especially about when the bond between a pair of sisters who were once extremely close becomes strained. This is probably due to the fact that I’ve longed for a sister for as long as I can remember. Instead, I have three brothers. Yay.

            

The problem with a lot of books about this subject is that they have a tendency to be very boring if not handled properly. We Are the Goldens was handled properly.

            

The brevity of the book (it comes in at just over 200 pages and took only about three hours to read) really works for it. It was easy to become completely wrapped up in Nell and Layla’s tiny little world and I became attached to them very quickly. If the writing hadn’t been as powerful as it is, I believe that this book could have failed for me – not a lot really happens. It’s very introspective and character driven, and Nell and Layla are both beyond frustrating at times. I very rarely read about characters under the age of sixteen, but the narrator, Nell, is only fourteen (perhaps fifteen towards the end). She is a freshman in high school and I really thought that her lack of experience and inherent naivity would make me hate her, but I never did. I found that she had a voice that was much older than fourteen. She was believable and she often had bad judgement like most fourteen year old girls, but she was a refreshing narrator.

            

My biggest qualm with Nell was her undying loyalty to her sister. She knew that Layla was in trouble and she was the only person who could help her, but because Layla had begged her not to tell anyone, Nell chose not to tell. She seemed almost obsessed with Layla, with wanting Layla to love her again and to trust her. She so hated that her sister was drifting away from her, locking her out of her life. I understand that feeling, but it was still difficult to read as Layla became more and more secretive and reserved. Nell wasn’t doing her sister any favours by keeping her secrets.

           

We Are the Goldens is written as a kind of letter from Nell to Layla. As such, Nell almost always refers to Layla as ‘you’. It was a risky move, and it worked. I think that this book would have been far less powerful were it written in a traditional first person point of view. I really enjoyed the strange, not-quite-a-letter style in which it was told.

            

The ending was fairly predictable, though I can’t see any alternative way for it to have ended. I would have liked to see some of the fallout of Nell’s actions and how her and Layla’s relationship fared. I wonder if they could ever rebuild their friendship and how tortured Nell would feel in the meantime.

Verdict 

ARC Review - Frenemy of the People by Nora Olsen

Frenemy of the People by Nora Olsen

Series: Standalone

Published by Bold Strokes Books

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, LGBT

Pages: 264

Rating: 2/5 stars

Clarissa and Lexie couldn’t be more different. Clarissa is a chirpy, optimistic do-gooder and a top rider on the school’s equestrian team. Lexie is an angry, punk rock activist and the only out lesbian at their school. 

When Clarissa declares she’s bi and starts a Gay-Straight Alliance, she unwittingly presses all of Lexie’s buttons, so Lexie makes it her job to cut Clarissa down to size. But Lexie goes too far and finds herself an unwitting participant in Clarissa’s latest crusade. Both are surprised to find their mutual loathing turning to love.  

A change in her family’s fortunes begins to unravel Clarissa’s seemingly perfect life, and the girls’ fledgling love is put to the test. Clarissa and Lexie each have what the other needs to save their relationship and the people they love from forces that could tear them all apart.

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Lexie and Clarissa were not pleasant people. They were snotty, spoiled little brats and they acted like it. Lexie’s gold-star lesbian girlfriend broke up with her to go away to college and she has no other friends at school. Clarissa’s friends, a group of stuck-up girls who she has ridden horses with for as long as she can remember, prove to be unsupportive and distant when she suddenly comes out to them as bisexual and quits riding competitively. Her only remaining friends are her older sister Desi, who has Down’s Syndrome, and her ex-boyfriend Matt.

Clarissa didn’t make a good impression on me to begin with, as I found her coming out story to be trite and so unbelievable. She had a thought that “hey, I might like girls” and immediately announced to her friends that she was bisexual. To prove her interest in girls to herself, she went up to the only lesbian she knew of (who just happened to be Lexie’s ex) and randomly kissed her. A stranger. Yeah. Not impressed. She pissed me off again later when she wildly overreacted to Lexie’s mother’s purchase of her beloved horse and took it out on Lexie.

Lexie wasn’t much better. She was incredibly self-righteous and judgemental and reminded me of Ava from Pink by Lili Wilkinson (another character whom I found irritating). She was slightly more believable than Clarissa, but that doesn’t excuse her behaviour.

The only character I actually liked was Desi. I thought it was nice to see a character with Down’s, because yay diversity! Unfortunately Desi ended up being more of a plot device than a real human being, but it’s a start…

There’s not much plot here to speak of. The biggest conflict was that Lexie’s parents were broke and were losing their mansion (which they shouldn’t have bought in the first place). I thought it was kind of ridiculous that Lexie oh-so-conveniently knew a shit-ton about banks and loans and mortgages. What kind of sixteen/seventeen year old girl has that kind of knowledge? I’d nearly twenty-two and I don’t know that stuff (nor would I be expected to at this point). The secondary plot, Desi’s desire to be homecoming queen before graduating, was little more than a way of getting Clarissa and Lexie to spend more time together.

Behold, info-dumping! While most of the writing was what I expect of contemporary YA – informal, casual language, minimal description with more focus on introspection and dialogue – there was WAY too much info-dumping here. I also thought that it was strange how similar Clarissa and Lexie sounded in their respective chapters, considering how “different” they supposedly were.

If this had been a hetero-romance, I’d have DNF’ed it. That said, there are so few LGBT books available in YA that it was worth reading. If you’re looking for quality with your girl-romance, I’d look elsewhere.

ARC Review - Twigs by Alison Ashley Formento

Twigs by Alison Ashley Formento

Series: Standalone

Expected Publication: Merit Press on September 18 2013

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary

Pages: 272

Rating: DNF (0/5 stars)

One pint-sized girl. Ten supersized crises. And it’s high noon.

They call her “Twigs,” because she’ll never hit five feet tall. Although she was born early, and a stiff breeze could knock her over, Twigs has a mighty spirit. She needs it, as life throws a whole bucket of rotten luck at her: Dad’s an absentee drunk; Mom’s obsessed with her new deaf boyfriend (and Twigs can’t tell what they’re saying to each other). Little sister Marlee is trying to date her way through the entire high school; Twigs’ true love may be a long-distance loser after a single week away at college, and suddenly, older brother Matt is missing in Iraq. It all comes together when a couple of thugs in a drugstore aisle lash out, and Twigs must fight to save the life of the father who denied her.

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I couldn’t bring myself to finish reading Twigs. I managed to plough through half of the book before setting it aside with a sigh of exasperation. My problems mainly stem from Twigs herself. She’s an asshole. She’s judgemental and rude and mean for no reason. She hits a guy she’s never even met with a car on purpose. She’s inconsiderate and most of her narration is complaining about something or other, though she never considers that an alternative to complaining might be getting off her ass and doing something about her crappy life.

As well as Twigs’ less than stellar personality, I thought the plot was exceptionally unexceptional. There never seemed to be anything happening. On the surface, the Matt storyline should be exciting and compelling. I, as the reader, should want to know what happened to him. But, though Twigs expressed her distress at Matt’s disappearance several times, I never got a good impression of what she actually felt. She didn’t seem to care about finding Matt, so neither did I. Though the Matt plot was the one that stood out most to me, there were far too many other sub-plots going on at once. It felt as though the book lacked a central plot and was more of a concoction of sub-plots thrown together haphazardly. They didn’t cohere or make sense – the drama between Helen and her husband, Twigs’ absentee, alcohol father and neglectful mother, her boyfriend putting distance of the physical and emotional nature between them. They all seemed very sub-jointed. It is entirely possible that this problem was resolved in the latter half of the book, but I didn’t feel any desire to find out.