Thought Train to Pusan

I feel like I’ve been saying this about a lot of books lately, but I just seem to want more. I’ve had The Sisters Brothers stashed on my e-reader for a few years now but haven’t gotten around to reading it until now. The writing is simple and easy to follow, and the story is interesting in that I wanted to see see what wacky antics would happen as the story progressed, but I ultimately wasn’t all that engaged by it. It’s as though certain scenes and interactions between people would be laid out with lots of detail as though they should be focused deeply on, only to not end up coming back up again or really meaning all that much in the end. Maybe that’s one of the themes, though: things happen and sometimes they don’t amount to much or lead us anywhere close to where we thought we would be. The Sisters Brothers is set during the California gold rush, and follows two brothers, Eli and Charlie Sisters, as they perform a job for a man named the Commodore. These brothers are essentia...

I don’t know why I keep trying to read books by Chuck Palahniuk. That is not to say that he’s not a good writer, it’s just that his very distinct style and way of telling a story is not for me. I’ve given him a go with a couple of other novels, but I think I’ve just come to realize that while I can see why others might like his work, I just can’t seem to enjoy it. And that’s okay. Though I will say that out of the three books I’ve read by Chuck Palahniuk to date, this one was not my least favourite, so that’s a good thing! Damned is about a thirteen year-old girl who has just died and is now in Hell. The story of how she died and what her life was like is told through almost a series of journal-entry type chapters addressed to Satan. Her accounts of Hell are vivid and include a lot of grotesque filth and imagery, as well as descriptions on how the whole operation is set up to run as she comes to learn more and more. Madison is intelligent and snarky, but defin...

Half Bad. Half Wild. Half Lost. It sets itself up to follow the usual young adult series storyline, yet there was something really intriguing about this series to me, and I absolutely devoured all three of the books as fast as possible. It might be that I’ve never really experienced the mythology of witches presented quite in the way this book does, which made it interesting to me. There is also such a survival instinct present in these books, and a connection to nature that is really beautiful, particularly in relation to the protagonist and his father. I also appreciate how a lot of young adult books nowadays don't feel the need to shy away from serious topics or from things that are a little grim. Of course, that's not for everyone, and despite there being quite a bit of violence in these novels, I found that it worked well with the tone of the story and the themes present. Also, I think it was very much a stylistic choice of Sally Green to describe things in enough...

After finishing the second book in the Captive Prince series, I scoot right along to dive into this one, rather than taking a break such as I had between the first and second books. And I definitely think that that was a good decision on my part, as I could basically just keep the action going and not forget any plot-points, characters, or intricacies, as there are many within these last two books.   I must say that I ended up liking this trilogy a lot more overall than I initially thought I would after reading the first novel. I still wouldn’t say it is my favourite, as there are some things about the world in general that make me a touch uncomfortable. That is to say, being that these books are largely centered around the position of sex slaves, that can be a tricky subject to approach to begin with. Albeit, I think illustrating how uncomfortable and gross the world of slavery is (sexual slavery specifically) was the intent of the whole thing, and the author definitely tr...

After reading the first book of the Captive Prince series, I was not exactly sold on it, and considered just stopping there. But after a little commenting back and forth with Narfna (aaayooo!) who had indeed read the rest of the series, I was convinced to keep going. And you know what, it has definitely improved and peaked more of my interest. There are still some things that I’m a little unsure of or uneasy about, but I am beginning to see a bigger picture that makes me want to know how everything is going to wrap up in the final book. Some of the “inevitabilities” and other things that I predicted in the first novel have indeed come to be, but there is still a lot that leaves me wondering, as this second book in the series was a lot more plot-driven and filled with so much political intrigue and interplay that I would never have anticipated (much like our protagonist Damen did not anticipate himself either?) The previous novel in the series focused on Prince Damen of Akielos,...

I got about a third into the second book in this trilogy when I realized that I really did not care enough to finish it, despite zipping right through the first book to see what direction it was going to take. Turns out, I don’t seem to like the direction that things appear to be heading in (I mean, I can’t know for sure, but I have a pretty good idea based on some spoilers/stuff from fans that have popped up on my tumblr dash, which is where I first heard about this series to begin with). Consequently, I am jumping ship for a few reasons. The Captive Prince trilogy is about a young Prince of Akielos named Damen, whose half-brother desperately wants the throne to the kingdom. So much so, that he announces Damen’s death, and sends Damen off to be a palace slave in Vere, a country that has had a long-standing feud with where Damen is from. This is supposed to be a sign of peace between the nations, as new treaties between them have just been signed. But Damen knows that if anyone...

I’m just going to start this off by telling you that if you love beautiful, soft animation and art, you should definitely see the movie The Song of the Sea . It’s adorable and sweet, and has some of the most stunning background artistry I’ve ever seen. But now you may be wondering what that has to do with this book I’m about to review? Well, I was just reminded of the movie because both the film, and C.B. Lee’s Seven Tears at High Tide focus on the myth of selkies! In different regards, of course, but both are also super sweet little stories (almost too sweet at times, in regards to the book, but we’ll get to that). I am actually currently in the middle of reading another trilogy of books, that are kind of dragging along for me at the current moment. And they are grim and somewhat brutal, so I just needed a break from that. At which point I picked up Seven Tears at High Tide, not realizing what an extreme shift in tone it would be from the other series I’m working on. It’s alm...