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Book Reviews - Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction - By an Adult for Adults

Barely OK: Witch and Wizard Fantasy YA Fiction, Magic, Dystopian

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Witch and Wizard by James Patterson combines magic with a frightening future. The heroes are Wisty and Whit, both 15.

Witch and Wizard has gotten good reviews and has been well-marketed. The Science Fiction Book Club offered it in hardback. However, this is one YA fantasy that is best enjoyed by younger teens, not adults.  There isn’t any substance or meat to the plot, characters, setting or dialogue.  Think of this book as eating cotton candy at the fair; OK while you’re in the middle but when you finish you wonder why you bothered.

I found the book good enough to finish, but not good enough that I care to read the sequels. For one thing, you know right from the first page that there will be sequels. How many books begin with the main characters tied up and ready to hang? You then spend the next 200+ pages reading how Whit and Wisty and their parents got to that point, or at least far enough towards it that the author could bring the book to a cliff hanger ending.

The dialogue is silly, banal and ridiculous. The characters don’t seem like real kids and the villain is an amalgamation of Lord Voldemart with Emperor Palpatine. It’s not enough fun that you can ignore the fake conflicts, ridiculous plot and tepid characters.

I’ll give it two stars just because it is a fast read that didn’t waste too much time.

The False Prince: Masquerades, Treason in Teen Fantasy Fiction YA Jennifer Nielsen

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Here’s another book aimed at teens who like fantasy that adults will enjoy too. I kept getting “you’ll like this book too” emails from Amazon recommending The False Prince: Book 1 of the Ascendance Trilogy so I decided to try it. Yes, it is a little predictable but the intriguing plot twist is the reason why. The reason for the subterfuge is so different from other books yet believable.

The False Prince is fantasy because it is set in imaginary countries but there is no magic, no dragons, vampires, ghosts, faries or zombies. The imaginary country looks much like our world, no strange animals or bizarre customs.

Our hero is an orphan in a small kingdom surrounded by larger more aggressive neighbors.  The entire royal family is either dead or missing and one of the ministers concocts a plot to insert a substitute for the missing younger prince.  He selects four orphans about the right age and looks and sets out to train them to be that missing prince.  The minister murders one of the orphans right away to cow the remaining three into obedience.  Our hero, Sage, isn’t cowed but he is frightened.  He knows that he too will be murdered if the minister doesn’t choose him for the masquerade, yet the alternative, to become a puppet prince ruled by the minister isn’t appealing. For if Sage lives, then the other two boys die.

We read how Sage takes control and turns the tables on the murderous minister.

The book is not a coming of age story. Sage grows up a little during the novel but the focus is on the awful choice he faces. how can he force the devious minister to allow all three boys to survive.

The False Prince is the first book of a planned trilogy. It was good, enjoyable enough that I will seek the second book in the series, The Runaway King. I enjoyed other books more but this was good. The characterization was good, not great, plot was intriguing but the challenge facing Sage was excellent.  I’ll give it 4 stars.

Alfred Kropp: The Thirteenth Skull by Rick Yancey YA Fantasy Fiction Review

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I enjoyed the first two Alfred Kropp books so much I got this one, Alfred Kropp: The Thirteenth Skull, as fast as possible. Like the first two books, The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp and Alfred Kropp: The Seal of Solomon, the Thirteenth Skull is fun, fast and enjoyable.

Let’s be clear what Alfred Kropp: The Thirteenth Skull is. This is a fast moving fantasy novel aimed squarely at 15 year old boys. Yes adults will enjoy it, but it lacks the nuances and character that made the first two novels satisfying reads for adults.

Alfred Kropp somehow has gotten much more capable in this story and has lost his introspection and the bumbling worry that are so typical of 15 year old kids. The character instead is capable of wrestling a fully grown thug on the back of a flat bed truck going 70 miles an hour on the expressway carrying lumber, tying a rope around the thug’s neck and throwing him off the truck. Can you imagine the Alfred Kropp in the first two books being able to physically overcome a grown man or being willing to kill someone? The first Alfred Kropp was gentle, unassuming, the natural target for bullies and mean kids and adults. This Alfred is closer to being James Bond than to the kid next door or the kid we were growing up.

I still enjoyed Alfred Kropp: The Thirteenth Skull enough to look out for a fourth book and read it when it comes, but I will do so expecting a couple hours of pure escapism and shoot ’em up plot line.  I won’t expect a book that I’d want to reread or one that will linger in my mind the way the first two did.

3 Stars

You can read my reviews about the first two books here:

Review: The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp YA Fiction Rick Yancey
Fast Moving YA Fiction Alfred Kropp: The Seal of Solomon Review

Fast Moving YA Fiction Alfred Kropp: The Seal of Solomon Review

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I’ve had a busy week reading four fast moving, fun books.  It’s fun to read books with interesting characters, intriguing backgrounds and speed of light plots.  Of the four this week Alfred Kropp: The Seal of Solomon was the most intriguing and fast moving.

I reviewed the first book, The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp, here in this blog post:  Review: The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp YA Fiction Rick Yancey.  The Seal of Solomon is the second book in the series.  The third book, Alfred Kropp: The Thirteenth Skull is reviewed here.

Alfred has landed with a couple who are professional foster parents. They have a small house, several foster kids, almost no discipline and less attention or care. After Alfred’s stint on the Most Wanted list he faces even more nasty tricks from his high school classmates. When beautiful blond, tanned Ashley shows up at school and wants to be his friend Alfred falls fast.

Ashley is an operative for OIPEP who saves Alfred from a killer and delivers him to Operative Nine who needs Alfred – badly. A renegade OIPEP agent stole Solomon’s seal and the vessel containing demons from hell and it’s up to Alfred, Ashley, Operative Nine to put stop him from setting the demons free. They fail. Demons are loose and on the hunt for Alfred. They want to control the seal and the vessel and need Alfred to help. In hindsight I’m not sure why they needed Alfred and no one else, but it made for a great story.

Alfred figures out how to trick the demons and once more saves the world. Along the way he inherits tons of money which makes his professional foster parents determined to forcibly draft him into adoption.

Alfred Kropp: The Seal of Solomon is noteworthy for the intricate and interesting backdrop to the story. Who is Operative Nine and why does he have the authority he does. Why is renegade agent Mike so determined to kill Alfred. What would it be like to work for OIPEP. What will the demons do when they control the world.

Those questions swirled around in my mind but only as a footnote to the real questions about Alfred. He is an amazing person, able to ignore the constant nastiness at home and school, determined to grow and to do the right thing. He is believable, the character we all inwardly feel we are – bumbling, not too swift, and somehow responsible for far more than what we want.

Alfred Kropp: The Seal of Solomon had excellent dialogue, a fun, super charged plot, fascinating back story, interesting characters. I highly recommend it. Like the other Alfred Kropp books this is characterized as YA fiction, aimed squarely at 12-18 year old boys, but it’s good enough for adults to enjoy.

Review: The Forest of Hands and Teeth YA Fantasy Fiction Zombies

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The Forest of Hands and Teeth is a popular dystopia set in a post zombie apocalypse world.  The book started out interesting and I found myself almost caring for the characters, but about a quarter through it suddenly went flat.  I lost interest and had to force myself to read further.

I ended up skimming through the last half or so.  I was curious how it ended but not engaged enough to waste more time reading.  The main character, Mary, didn’t make a lot of sense to me.  She didn’t seem to know what she wanted; true, many people never learn that.  But in a book we expect the characters to somehow deal with this.  Mary did not.

The other thing that was just plain stupid was that the world outside the small community was overrun with zombies.  Yet the Sisterhood claimed that no one else existed beyond their small group.  That makes no sense.  If the only source for new zombies was the small contingent inside the community, then how did the zombies outside continue or even increase in number so many years after the apocalypse?

The Forest of Hands and Teeth is being made into a movie and there are sequels. I did not care for the book, but many readers love it. It may appeal to girls in the 15-20 age group.

1 Star.

Review: Dragon’s Bait YA Fantasy, False Accusations, Dragons, Vivian Vande Velde

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Dragon’s Bait by Vivian Vande Velde is listed for 12 year olds and may appeal to the pre-teen and young teen girls because the protagonist Alys is the well-meaning victim of her greedy neighbors.  The neighbors accuse her of witchcraft, find a corrupt priest to find her guilty and soon she is tied to a stake for the dragon to devour.

Of course Alys is innocent and the dragon is Selendrile, a young dragon able to change into a young man who is willing to help her get revenge.  Selendrile first sounds like he’s ambivalent about revenge, but he soon takes charge of Alys and her quest.  The book has a couple interesting moments, and occasional hints of humor such as when Alys and Selendrile reach the town to deal with the churchman judge who condemned Alys.

Overall I did not like this.  It was understandable that Alys would like to reclaim her place, but that she would try to get her neighbor’s daughter condemned as a witch for revenge was far-fetched.  Really?  Alys is suffering since she now has no home and no real chance to establish herself.  But to try and make someone else suffer the same way?  Why would we want to read about someone this mean and selfish?

If nothing else the complete lack of a moral dilemma made this book ring hollow to me.  I read the whole thing in a short evening and finished it feeling more and more distaste for Alys, Selendrile and all the other characters.  They were not interesting and did not feel like real people, and were all one dimensional, nasty, the sort you feel the author ordered from the local character-take-out-joint.

The dialogue was boring, poorly done, stilted.  The dragon Selendrile has no motivation to help Alys and at the end of the book, when he offers to take Alys to his home, we simply are lost.  There is no reason, no future, and frankly, I did not care.

I do not recommend this.  The reviewers on Amazon gave this high marks, but I cannot rate it above a 2 out of 5.

Review: The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp YA Fiction Rick Yancey

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Take a good look at the picture on the cover.

Sword. Chunky kid. Untied shoelace. What do you think?

Yes, the hero in The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp is a kid. Yes, he has King Arthur’s Excalibur. Yes, the villains are after him.

No. He is not a nerd, nor wimpy, nor skinny nor does he wear glasses. What he is, is an orphan with a very large head, a big husky body, not super clever, not college-bound, and he plays football only because he has to. The entire book is full of surprises like this. We have scenes that you just know how they will proceed – but then they don’t.  You have a character who seems miscast as a hero – until he becomes one.  You have ambiguous characters – until they reveal themselves.  I thoroughly enjoyed The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp. I loved the character Alfred Kropp, loved the plot, the fast pace, the on-going mystery of the ambiguous super secret organization OIPEP.

This is a very fast read; I finished in one evening, then ran downstairs to get the sequel on my Nook.  The book combines a fun read with some serious introspection on the part of a fifteen year old self-described screw up kid.  Alfred knows he will goof and make the wrong decision but he keeps on going, determined to set right what he caused to go wrong.  Yes, there is some coming-of-age in this book; after all you can’t avoid that when dealing with a teen protagonist.  But the coming of age is well done and just sort of happens along the way.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp is classified as YA fiction since Alfred is fifteen. No doubt boys will especially enjoy this but girls and adults will too.

I highly recommend this.

Review: Ranger’s Apprentice Book One: The Ruins of Gorlan John Flanagan

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The Ruins of Gorlan, Ranger’s Apprentice Book 1 is listed as YA fantasy. Will, the hero is 15 years old, small and scrawny, an orphan raised as the ward of Baron Arald, lord of Redmont fief, along with 4 others his age.  Ever year wards that turn 15 must choose – and be chosen – by one of the castle craft masters who then assume responsibility for their new apprentice.

Will wants to be a knight but is rejected from Battle School due to his size. The Ranger Halt accepts him and begins his training which includes how to move unnoticed, archery and field craft. Rangers are a cross between the spies of the kingdom, couriers and advisers.

Will of course proves himself many times, showing bravery, smarts, ethics, honor and ability. At the end of the story he is offered the chance to join the Battle School and train as a knight, but decides to continue as a ranger.

The Ruins of Gorlan could have been formulaic but it is something more than our usual coming of age/fantasy story. Will is a real character, well drawn and interesting. True, we don’t feel like we would recognize him if we met, but for a 200 page juvenile fantasy the characterization is excellent. Halt and even Will’s old fellow ward Horace are also well crafted. A few minor characters are a bit on the flimsy side, but perfectly well done for a short book aimed at younger readers.

Best of all, The Ruins of Gorlan does not read like a book for kids. The ideas and language are perfectly enjoyable for adults who want a fast read that’s enjoyable and fun.

I expect most teens and pre-teens would enjoy this. The character is fun, the plot moves and the setting, especially the plain with the Stone Flutes, was great. The story moves right to the final action where Will, with the Baron, Sir Rodney and Halt confront the monstrous Kalkara. Will takes the decisive action, but it was hinted earlier and used his wits rather than his brawn, perfectly fitting the book.

The Ruins of Gorlan is listed as Book One of the Ranger’s Apprentice series and now (April, 2013) there are eleven books in the series with book twelve near release.

I recommend this one.

4 Stars

Review: Crewel Dystopian Fantasy Genniffer Albin Crewel World

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Crewel is dystopian with a young heroine in a world where women must fit tiny, narrow roles.  Our heroine, Adelice, has a rare talent to manipulate the form of her world and has been forcibly enlisted as a Spinster.

We don’t quite see how the Crewel world works until quite late in the story.  The first part of Crewel is taken up with Adelice being hauled out of the escape tunnel her parents built in their basement, then punished for attempting to run, and finally being brought into the training group.

Spinsters are the female leaders who use their unusual abilities to touch and manipulate the world via looms. They are not allowed to marry and are forbidden any sexual activities due to stringent purity laws. The Guild leaders are men who govern and decide. Guild is dependent on the Spinsters to keep Arras functional, but the men are careful to not allow the women power or control.

Adelice has love interests in two young men but since she has had zero exposure to men she doesn’t quite know what to think about them. She is intrigued but fears the retribution should she be discovered in a compromising scene.

About two thirds through the book Adelice learns that Arras is truly woven above and separate from Earth, separated during a time when war threatened and leaders of twelve countries decided to set up the separate world. It is not clear exactly how Arras works. It is physical, with special Thread that forms the physical reality and individual people. Yet it is connected somehow to Earth.

The Creweler – and there is only one – is able to create new Threads and to use Thread to create new places within Arras. The current Creweler is old and wants no part of further renewals.

Adelice is appalled when she learns that the Threads that represent individual people can be cleaned, or even remapped. People who have memories that threaten the Guild or illness or are rebellious or inconvenient are either Cleaned or if severe, Ripped. Adelice learns a new technique to Remap individuals has much promise to leave most of the person’s skills intact. Even worse. Adelice has questioned once too often. Now she faces Remapping.

Adelice has to choose whether to take up her assigned role as the next Creweler, to be Remapped, or to somehow escape. Escape seems impossible. Is it?

Crewel is shown as the first book in the new series Crewel World and ends on a cliffhanger.

3 Stars

Review: Flowers – A Collection of Dark Fiction Scott Nicholson, Short Stories

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Flowers by Scott Nicholson contains ten short stories that are labeled as “dark fiction”.

I liked the first story, “The Vampire Shortstop” the best. The characters were good and the plot was excellent. Short stories must make their point quickly and move on and “Vampire Shortstop” touches on acceptance, toleration, importance of winning vs. fair play and sportsmanship. We don’t learn much about the kid vampire who plays shortstop on a Little League team except that baseball matters and he’s really good at it. The story is narrated through the eyes of the team coach.

“Scarecrow Boy” is the only story that is truly horror. A young teen is living with his grandfather on a small farm and is terrified of the scarecrow that stalks him. We learn he was wise to fear the scarecrow, too bad he wasn’t wise enough to latch the gate!

“Invisible Friend” and “In the Heart of November” feature best friends Margaret and Ellen. Ellen lives in a trailer park with her mom and Margaret lives in her graveyard. Both stories are good but neither made a deep impression on me.

“Thirst”, “The Night the Wind Died”, “Luminosity” and “The Boy Who Saw Fire” all use the same magic theme, that it is by human (human like anyway) efforts that the rains fall, the wind blows, the moon rises and the sun sets. These all were reasonably good, enjoyable reads.

I was intrigued that Flowers features young characters – except the baseball coach everyone is in their early teens – yet is not classified as “Young Adult”. All too often excellent books with themes and ideas that appeal to adults are misclassified as “YA Fiction” because the characters are young.

I will look for more by Scott Nicholson.

3 Stars