Book Reviews by Today, I Read…

I’m coming upon three quarters of this book and I’m on the fence about it.

On one hand I love the premise and it’s swift. Using recent biological discoveries, Bodeen weaves a conspiracy story around the bioengineering of children who only need sunlight to survive. Despite this scientific angle, which could easily get boring too quickly, the story doesn’t slow down much as Mason takes it upon himself to rescue one of these children and winds up on the run from the people who created her.

On the other there is a plot-by-numbers feel to it and the puppy love Mason has for Laila feels inorganic and wedged into the story. Suspense is feigned; there are tense moments, but it’s easy to predict what will happen next. For instance, when the unnamed girl sees a picture of Dr. Emerson, she immediately recognizes the scientist. When Mason and the girl go to Dr. Emerson’s lecture, surprise surprise, Dr. Emerson takes one look at the unnamed girl and recognizes her. No big deal, until it’s turned into some amazing and earth shattering event. Plus, Mason mentioning how cute Laila (aka the unnamed girl) is every few pages and using it as a way to explain why he’s going to so much trouble for her is clunky. It was already well established in the opening chapters that he has a hero complex and his awe was put on display the first time he laid eyes on her.

The question for me is whether these detriments outweigh the redeeming qualities and so far the answer is no. Right now I’m hovering around a B-/C+ letter grade for this book, but I’m hoping the ending is awesome so I can bump it up to a solid B/B+.

Thanks to Jill at Breaking the Spine, I present another edition of Waiting on Wednesday…

Can I be honest and just say that I love the cover? It’s the first thing I noticed and it alone has me 98% sold on this book. (But since I have never purchased a book solely on the cover, I’ll add that the remaining 2% was covered by the book’s description.)

The Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices, Book 1) by Cassandra Clare is scheduled for publication on August 31, 2010 and can be pre-ordered from Amazon.

Magic is dangerous—but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London’s Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What’s more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa’s power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by—and torn between—two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm’s length . . . everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world. . . . and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.

Happy Tuesday! It’s time again for another edition of Teaser Tuesdays…

Here are the rules:

• Grab your current read
• Let the book fall open to a random page
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• You also need to share the title of the book where you get your teaser from…that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given
• Please avoid spoilers

This week’s teaser:

"Maybe being a worker tempts you to be all mystical, but I think mom knows about people because she watches faces very closely. There’re these looks people get that last less than a second–micro-expressions, they call them, fleeting clues that reveal a lot more than we wish." pg. 154 White Cat by Holly Black

And I wish I could say I was loving this book already, but I’m not. Just into the third chapter and the story is barely holding my attention. It’s not that it’s bad or even that there aren’t interesting aspects (it does start with the main character dangling from a rooftop after an episode of sleepwalking), but even with the interesting bits, it still feels stagnant. But I’m not ready to give up yet. I want it to get better because the world (in which people can touch someone to curse them) promises intrigue and I’m hoping that it will.

Recently Read

My review queue is still a little backlogged, but I will set aside some time this week to go through it. In the meantime, here’s a quick rundown of some of the books I’ve this week.

Kin and Kith, Books 1 & 2 of The Good Neighbors, by Holly Black and Ted Naifeh are graphic novels about a girl named Rue discovering her faerie heritage. To make things more interesting, her grandfather (on her faerie mother’s side) wants to take over her city and she’s the only one who can stop it. Although I’m not overly fond of the illustration style (it’s not bad, just not my preference and I’ve run into a few consistency issues), and although I’m not fond of the sometimes stilted prose, I find the overall story to be entertaining—so much so that I can’t wait to see what happens in the third book.

wtf by Peter Lerangis was a romp with a darkly humorous twist. If you’re into character-driven novels, then this really isn’t it, but it’s great mental popcorn. The story is told in short vignettes that follow the actions of six prep school teenagers over the course of one night involving a car accident involving a deer, drug deals gone wrong, and horny couples hooking up in front of strangers. Even with that tidbit, I should mention there’s nothing entirely explicit. Yes, those things are on center stage, but many of the gritty details are left out. Overall, good read.

The Clearing by Heather Davis is my favorite read this week. It’s beautiful and sweet and a bit sad. After leaving an abusive relationship, sixteen-year-old Amy moves in with her great-aunt Mae. While in her care, she discovers a mist lining the forest and through it a clearing where she meets the eighteen-year-old Henry. Over time, the two fall in love, but there’s one problem: Henry (and his mother and grandfather) are stuck in 1944. It’s then up to the two of them to decide if and how they will be together.

Planned Reading

I think I may have strayed into book limbo; a place where I want to read, but have hit a reading slump. In any event, I hope I get out of my little funk soon because there’s a busy reading week ahead.

Pens & Other Cute Things

(I love those little index tab stickers!)

I went shopping at JetPens again. I only needed to get some pen refills, but I came away with seven new pens and some adorable index tab stickers. You can read all about it (and see pretty pictures) at Today, I Wrote…

It’s Thursday and you know what that means…another edition of Booking Through Thursday is here.

This week’s question is: Do you take breaks while reading a book? Or read it straight through? (And, by breaks, I don’t mean sleeping, eating and going to work; I mean putting it aside for a time while you read something else.)

The default answer (for everything, it seems) is: It depends. Sometimes a book is so gripping that taking a break is near impossible—it even trumps eating and sleeping. For the most part though, I take breaks.

It’s like I have adult ADD or something. But really I’m just a mood-based reader. Sometimes I’m in the mood for something light and fun, other times I want something solid and pensive, then I might want frightening. It all boils down to what I’m in the mood to read at any given moment.

Right now, I’m actually alternating between three different books: two fiction (supernatural fantasy and coming of age drama) and one non-fiction (true crime). For the most part, I try not to read within similar genres. So if I’m already reading a supernatural fantasy, I won’t read another one along side it—mainly so I don’t mix them up.

Frankly, though, I’ve become insane with keeping reading notes which means I don’t need to worry about mixing storylines anyway. (This would require a complete post of its own…which is on my schedule, so look for it soon.)