Neal Shusterman
The third in the trilogy (Unwind, Unwholly), Unsouled picks up with the AWOL unwinds scattered around after their hideout is discovered and destroyed by the Juvenile Authority. Shusterman proceeds to spend the entire novel connecting the pieces of all the major characters. Unfortunately, he also decides to reconnect story-lines with minor characters. The storyline feels like he is trying to weave together an extremely complex plot into a clever and deep conclusion. In fact, a complex plot is not necessary (and comes out as manufactured complexity). Instead, since he has such great material in the unwind and rewind ideas, we should be watching the characters grow into their understanding of the implications of these ideas and alternatives. We get glimpses of the question of whether the Composite has a soul. But Shusterman never lets the characters explore this (and by extension, we don't get to explore it). In the end, I will recommend this only as a means to complete the series. It doesn't really provide the metaphysical substance that was promised in the first two volumes and it leaves too many loose ends (even though it seems his goal is to wrap all loose ends).
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Monday, January 27, 2014
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Bloody Jack
L.A. Meyer
Set in the 1700's, the story follows Mary Faber, a young orphan in London who escapes her life on the street by posing as a boy and getting a job on a royal navy ship. She gets in a couple of years of experience before she is discovered. During that time, she makes friends, gets a reputation as Bloody Jack for her participation in boarding a pirate ship, saves the sinking ship from certain doom, and makes everyone extremely wealthy. An easy and fun read, with good research to give us what seems a pretty good picture of life on the seas in the royal navy.
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Set in the 1700's, the story follows Mary Faber, a young orphan in London who escapes her life on the street by posing as a boy and getting a job on a royal navy ship. She gets in a couple of years of experience before she is discovered. During that time, she makes friends, gets a reputation as Bloody Jack for her participation in boarding a pirate ship, saves the sinking ship from certain doom, and makes everyone extremely wealthy. An easy and fun read, with good research to give us what seems a pretty good picture of life on the seas in the royal navy.
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Allegiant
Veronica Roth
Book 3 of Divergent trilogy
The factionless have taken over Chicago, breaking the social structure of the city. A new conflict is arising between the factionless and the Allegiant, who hope to return the city to a system of factions. With this background, Tris and Four decide that they are going to leave the city (as suggested in the message from Tris great grandmother) and most of this final installment takes place outside Chicago (at O'Hare airport in turns out). On the outside, we get a picture of what the world really is, with the US consisting of a few metropolitan centers, surrounded by those who live in "The Fringe". In this world, society is divided into Genetically Pure and Genetically Damaged, which for Tris is just another couple of factions. I like that Roth has added a completely new layer to this series with the genetic questions. I like that she never "preaches" by telling the reader what to think. Instead, there are hints about the characters starting to think about equality and mixing of factions. We readers are pointed in a direction, but don't have to listen to the authors point of view through speeches of the characters. We get to watch the authors point of view through the actions and life choices of the characters. A solid, enjoyable, thought-provoking conclusion to this series. Highly recommended.
Read
Book 3 of Divergent trilogy
The factionless have taken over Chicago, breaking the social structure of the city. A new conflict is arising between the factionless and the Allegiant, who hope to return the city to a system of factions. With this background, Tris and Four decide that they are going to leave the city (as suggested in the message from Tris great grandmother) and most of this final installment takes place outside Chicago (at O'Hare airport in turns out). On the outside, we get a picture of what the world really is, with the US consisting of a few metropolitan centers, surrounded by those who live in "The Fringe". In this world, society is divided into Genetically Pure and Genetically Damaged, which for Tris is just another couple of factions. I like that Roth has added a completely new layer to this series with the genetic questions. I like that she never "preaches" by telling the reader what to think. Instead, there are hints about the characters starting to think about equality and mixing of factions. We readers are pointed in a direction, but don't have to listen to the authors point of view through speeches of the characters. We get to watch the authors point of view through the actions and life choices of the characters. A solid, enjoyable, thought-provoking conclusion to this series. Highly recommended.
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Shantaram
Gregory David Roberts
An epic novel. And by that I mean huge, covering lots of territory, broad in scope. The book is fiction, but based (presumably loosely) on the life of an escaped Australian convict. In the novel, this character is Lin. Lin has traveled to Bombay to get lost in the sea of people there. He gets involved with the local underworld (working in the money trade, passports, etc.), lives in a slum, spends time in prison, lives in a rural village and works as a talent scout in Bollywood. In all of these contexts, Lin (and we) get to know Bombay and fall in love with the city on a variety of levels. Throughout, the enduring characteristic of Lin is that he will always help a friend, at any cost. And while this often gets him into trouble, it also bonds him to people who help him out as well. After spending a large portion of the novel in Bombay, Lin travels to Afghanistan on a gun delivery mission and we get a good introduction to that country during the Russian occupation. I actually listened to the audio version of this book and it was a fabulous book to listen to. The reader captured the indian accents extremely well and I found myself laughing out loud (which I would not have done with text). In hindsight, the love for Bombay is very romantic and clearly leaves out the crowds and claustrophobia and filth and density of the city. But it makes for a great novel.
Read (or actually - Listen)
An epic novel. And by that I mean huge, covering lots of territory, broad in scope. The book is fiction, but based (presumably loosely) on the life of an escaped Australian convict. In the novel, this character is Lin. Lin has traveled to Bombay to get lost in the sea of people there. He gets involved with the local underworld (working in the money trade, passports, etc.), lives in a slum, spends time in prison, lives in a rural village and works as a talent scout in Bollywood. In all of these contexts, Lin (and we) get to know Bombay and fall in love with the city on a variety of levels. Throughout, the enduring characteristic of Lin is that he will always help a friend, at any cost. And while this often gets him into trouble, it also bonds him to people who help him out as well. After spending a large portion of the novel in Bombay, Lin travels to Afghanistan on a gun delivery mission and we get a good introduction to that country during the Russian occupation. I actually listened to the audio version of this book and it was a fabulous book to listen to. The reader captured the indian accents extremely well and I found myself laughing out loud (which I would not have done with text). In hindsight, the love for Bombay is very romantic and clearly leaves out the crowds and claustrophobia and filth and density of the city. But it makes for a great novel.
Read (or actually - Listen)
Friday, January 3, 2014
I am Number Four: The Lost Files: The Last Days of Lorien
Pittacus Lore
This novella is a continuation in the Lorien Legacies series. Set on Lorien before the invasion of the Mogs, we get a picture of what life is like and how complacent the Loric have become. The protagonist of this iteration is Sandor, who eventually becomes Cepan to Nine. He is basically a hacker in a world where no one would ever believe a hacker could exist. A few fun details, and since it is a novella, it takes about an hour to read.
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This novella is a continuation in the Lorien Legacies series. Set on Lorien before the invasion of the Mogs, we get a picture of what life is like and how complacent the Loric have become. The protagonist of this iteration is Sandor, who eventually becomes Cepan to Nine. He is basically a hacker in a world where no one would ever believe a hacker could exist. A few fun details, and since it is a novella, it takes about an hour to read.
Read
The Fault in Our Stars
John Green
As lighthearted a look at teen cancer as is probably possible. I didn't think this was a great book in that the story was pretty straight forward. A couple of kids with cancer meet up and probe the existential world they live in. Neither is really interested in developing real relationships because they don't want to be a "grenade" for the other. But relationships happen and the characters are appropriately cynical, thoughtful about their disease, expressing their teen angst, and mature beyond their years. It is a quick read, and enjoyable... just not astounding. I would still recommend Going Bovine, although it is not explicitly about cancer, but about the wacky way a particular brain may try to cope with extreme stress (which is cancer induced). Maybe these two books would be a good point/counterpoint on how to write about the ugliness of adolescent mortality?
Read
As lighthearted a look at teen cancer as is probably possible. I didn't think this was a great book in that the story was pretty straight forward. A couple of kids with cancer meet up and probe the existential world they live in. Neither is really interested in developing real relationships because they don't want to be a "grenade" for the other. But relationships happen and the characters are appropriately cynical, thoughtful about their disease, expressing their teen angst, and mature beyond their years. It is a quick read, and enjoyable... just not astounding. I would still recommend Going Bovine, although it is not explicitly about cancer, but about the wacky way a particular brain may try to cope with extreme stress (which is cancer induced). Maybe these two books would be a good point/counterpoint on how to write about the ugliness of adolescent mortality?
Read
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