Thoughts: Rot & Ruin

Title: Rot & Ruin
Author: Jonathan Maberry
Publisher: Simon & Schuster BFYR
Pages: 458
Source: Borrowed from library

In a post-apocalyptic world where fences and border patrols guard the few people left from the zombies that have overtaken civilization, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura is finally convinced that he must follow in his older brother's footsteps and become a bounty hunter.

In Benny's world, fifteen is the age at which people are expected to get a job and pull their weight otherwise their rations get cut. Benny and his friend Chong try out a variety of jobs; each one having disadvantages that make the boys decide not to keep it as a vocation. Eventually Chong takes on a job as a tower watcher and Benny, grudgingly, decides to apprentice under his older brother as a zombie bounty hunter.

Rot & Ruin was a book I picked up expecting to read the usual YA fare -- some sort of love triangle, some fluff about how horrible the zombies are blah blah blah. I was awesomely pleased when I finished the book because none of that was true. Jonathan Maberry has crafted a world in which the zombies are more part of the scenery instead of the catalyst to the story; a trend that I'm really starting to enjoy in my zombie fiction. Yes, Benny and Tom are zombie bounty hunters, but the story revolves around the humanity of the people who survived First Night rather than playing out scene after scene of zombies trying to break into the town to eat the survivors.

Benny doesn't like his brother. He thinks Tom is a coward and can't understand why people in town seem to treat him as some sort of hero. Eventually, after training with Tom, Benny starts to learn more about the people, and the world, he's grown up with; and not all is as it seems. Maberry has done a spectacular job telling a coming of age story where the main characters learn some hard truths about the world in which they live; mostly that the zombies may not be the most evil thing in the world.

The writing is tight and flows amazingly well. There is lots of action, a little bit of non-gushy romance (and /not/ a love triangle, thank god!), and tragedy; everything a good story should have. This is a book I'll pass on to my kid to read and one I'd recommend to zombie/post-apocalyptic fans.

My Library Haul (2)

I love my local library, even though sometimes they never have what I want.  I adore being able to log into the system, find the books I'm after, putting them on hold and then just wandering over to pick them up when they arrive.  Sometimes I go in just to pick up my holds but then I end up roaming around and walk out with more than what I went in for.  Such was the case today.  I was only going to go pick up the last three books in The Walking Dead series, but I ended up with three other books on top of those.

Yep, the library is just as bad for feeding my addiction.  Fortunately it is a /lot/ cheaper than the bookstores. 
Crawlers by John Shirley - Almost finished this one, actually.  Pretty good little mix of creepy and science fiction.
Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves, The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade, Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry, Matched by Ally Condie and, of course, books 3-5 of The Walking Dead graphic novel series.

I just finished reading Overwinter by David Wellington and will post a review soonish.  Right now I've got errands to run and books to read so, since it is a miserable day outside I'll be curling up with my books and my tea after I get back from picking people up and dropping people off.

Oh!  The kid finished The Marbury Lens.  He loved it.  Said it was the best book he's read in a long time.  He sent Andrew Smith an email telling him so.  Now I wait until Gramma is done reading it and then it'll be my turn.

Duo of thoughts: Godmother & Wildwood Road

A bit ago I posted about my latest library haul where I ended up adding a few books to my already gigantic to be read pile.

Out of the pile I've finished two and discovered that one of them I'd already read before.  I've never actually done that before; taken a book out of the library that I'd already read, but I blame myself for not writing down the actual titles of the books I was after.  I knew I still had a couple of Gail Tsukiyama's books to read, but it was Dreaming Water I am after, not Night of Many Dreams which I read back in January of 2009 (thank you Goodreads).

Wildwood Road by Christopher Golden

I read my first Christopher Golden book a few years ago and have been on a slow hunt to read more of his work. This one was a typical supernatural thriller/ghost story and, in my opinion, was a little draggy in parts.

The Dansky's are the perfect couple. They have great jobs, great friends and love each other deeply. However, after the Halloween party all that is about to change. While Jillian is passed out in the backseat, Micheal narrowly misses hitting a little girl. Of course, like any good citizen, he offers her a ride home only to discover that her house is just a bit creepy, just a bit off, just a bit wrong. He has some sort of supernatural encounter but doesn't remember any of it when he and Jillian are awoken the next morning by police tapping on the window of their pulled over car. Now Micheal is seeing the little girl everywhere and Jillian is turning into a not-so nice person leaving Micheal with the burden of trying to figure out what exactly is going on.

Did I like the book? Yes. It was, like I said, a slow read. It wasn't a book that screamed at me to pick it up and finish it now. This was, actually, my most recent "bathroom" read. The overall main plotline was good. The flashbacks of Jillian and Micheal's history together, while I suppose they were important to build their relationship strength, were distracting. I wanted more ghost/supernatural and less mushy 'we're so perfectly in love in our perfect world'.

The entire ghost mystery part was /awsome/. I loved the story behind the how/why. I wish there had been more of that in the book. Overall not a horrible read, but not one I'd likely sit down and read again.

Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story by Carolyn Turgeon

I had been waiting a long time to read this book. My local library was doing huge renovations when I first tried to put it on hold. Once the renos were done, I actually had to ask one of the librarians if this book was even still around since they'd had a giant book sale a few months back. Fortunately, it turned out that it was just buried in the stacks and she was more than happy to retrieve it for me.

It was mostly worth the wait. Turgeon's writing is lovely. I had no problems losing myself in the story of this ill fated fairy godmother, though I was a little confused as to some of the things happening to her in the current time. The flashbacks to her fairy life were sprinkled throughout the book and fit in well with the overall plot line, slowly revealing exactly what happened on that fateful night that Cinderella went to the ball.

The book was a fast read for me; I finished it in a day so it is safe to say that it did suck me in and had me wanting to know more. The ending is one that I kind of saw coming, but wasn't too sure if I was right or not until the very, very end. It is an ending that sneaks up on the reader and, in the case of my mother, some may need to re-read it to see if they've followed it correctly.

Overall a book I'd recommend to friends and family alike.

to the author from socal

Sometime back in February there was a twitter post on my feed that lead to YouTube and this video in particular where author Andrew Smith discusses books for boys, about boys, by boys.  I watched the entire thing and even watched a few of the response videos and then I sat down and wrote an email to Mr. Smith.  All I wanted to do was thank him for expressing and honest opinion about the apparent lack of strong books for teenage boys and for the book suggestions he made in the video.  I have two teenage boys.  My eldest will be fifteen in a few months and is impossible to buy books for.

I got a really nice response from Andrew and he even reached out to my son and myself with a bit of a challenge.  Two titles were offered up and, after choosing one, Andrew said he would mail a copy out to Sean as long as the kid agreed to read and offer feedback when he was finished.  I was /very/ surprised by the offer, but put it to Sean and he ended up choosing The Marbury Lens.  Andrew also blogged about the whole thing on his blog, Ghost Medicine, right here.

So, Andrew, I just wanted to let you know that the book arrived today!  It sat on the kitchen table and stared at me all day.  When Sean got home I shoved the package at him and demanded that he open it.  Right. Now.  It really is a fantastic cover and I love the way you signed it for him.  Sean's comment when is slid out of the envelope was 'wow it is kind of big' and he wants to know what Mind the Gap means.  I told him it probably will be more clear after he reads the book.

I told him he'd best hurry up and read it too, because Grandma has already picked it up and started reading it.  She made it to chapter three before Sean caught her and informed her that she needed to wait her turn.

So, two of us are waiting for Sean to finish so we can fight over the scraps, and you'll all get to read for yourselves what the kid thinks about the book when he finishes reading it.

My Recent Library Haul

My mom wanted to go to the library to look for some beginner Spanish tapes so we hopped into the van and off we went to the main branch since the one by the house doesn't have a lot in the way of audio media.

Of course, this proved to be a rather large mistake since I had a big list of books to check for while I was there. Mom managed to find a decent Spanish CD and I came home with seven books to add to the stack I already have. I really, really, really should be avoiding the library. It just feeds my book addiction without the pain to my pocketbook.

I've already finished Godmother by Carolyn Turgeon. I read it while I was curled up in bed feeling all achey and stuffy. I'm currently working my way through Wildwood Road by Christopher Golden (I love his adult stuff!). Then I have the next two Allie Beckstrom books, Magic on the Storm and Magic at the Gate, by Devon Monk, Overwinter by David Wellington, Night of Many Dreams by Gail Tsukiyama and The Wife's Tale by Lori Lansens to read.

Also this week all the kids will be in school since the two that were home sick are feeling much better, so mom and I will be heading back to the library to play with the Ipads they just got in. I will have to exercise all my willpower to make sure that stack in the picture doesn't end up having a few more books dropped onto it.

A Trio of Thoughts

In the past couple of days I've stared at my bookshelf and couldn't decide what book I wanted to read next which is generally a good sign that my brain just isn't into reading anything 'heavy', so I went to the library and grabbed a couple of YA books to fill in the gap until I feel more up to tackling something like the new Tony Burgess book.

Give up the Ghost by Megan Crewe is one that I actually own.  I purchased it at a local horror/dark lit festival and Megan was nice enough to answer my questions and even signed the book for me.  It has taken a while, but I finally sat down and read the book.  I really enjoyed it.  I like when a book surprises me by not turning out the way I thought it would.  I was expecting a book about how Cass could talk to ghosts and all the hilarity that would ensue etc, etc.  Instead I got a tale of learning how to let go of grudges and move on in life.  I could relate to the petty hatred that Cass was carrying through high school and her own way of believing that she was doing 'good' when all she was really trying to do was humiliate her former best friend.  Megan did a great job of growing the character throughout the book so that by the end, Cass had learned to let go and move on.  The only thing I felt was weak was the actual ending, but I still enjoyed the book overall.  Looking forward to seeing what Megan Crewe comes up with next.

The Duff (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) by Kody Keplinger is one of the library choices that I grabbed.  I have seen this book reviewed on a couple of the blogs I read so I was curious to see how it read.  I'll be honest and admit that I liked the book.  I think the story rings true in the language and actions simply because the author is still in her own teen/ya years.  The writing was sharp and I loved the main character, Bianca.  Her sharp tongue managed to get her into more than her fair share of trouble, but it was also nice to see her grow up some near the end and make the connections and realizations about herself and her friends that she did.  A good read to kill some time with and one that my teen self would have related to.

Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel was another one of my library grabs.  I was skimming the YA shelf while my mom waited patiently nearby when I saw this one and seemed to recall reading decent things about it.  I read the back to my mom and she was actually the one who decided to check it out and read it.  She was surprised by the fact that she really enjoyed it and said that teen books had come a long way.  Once I finished with The Duff, I picked this one up and finished it in a couple of days.  It is a vampire story (surprise) and there is a hot guy involved (surprise again) /but/ it is a fast read that made me want to actually pick up the next book in the series.  Lenah is the new girl at Wickham boarding school; she also happens to be a 500+ year old vampire who has been returned to her human state by an ancient ritual.  Now she has to learn how to fit into this situation and figure out what to do when her coven realizes she's not returning to them.  There is some growth in Lenah as she goes from spoiled, evil, selfish vampire queen to regular human sixteen year old girl who learns how to look outside herself for a change.  There's also some action at the end of the book when the coven comes hunting.  The flashbacks to Lenah's vampire life are also a nice addition to the story and don't detract from the main plot line at all.  Again, a quick read to fall into for a day or so and one that I'd probably recommend to my friends who like this kind of story.  I'll be reading the sequel for sure to see where things go.

Now I'm debating if I'm going to read Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, People Live Still in Cashtown Corners by Tony Burgess, A Book of Tongues by Gemma Files or Lucy by Laurence Gonzales.

Thoughts: Handling the Undead

Title: Handling the Undead
Author: John Ajvide Lindqvist
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Pages: 364
Source: Borrowed from the library

In his new novel, John Ajvide Lindqvist does for zombies what his previous novel, Let the Right One In, did for vampires.

Across Stockholm the power grid has gone crazy. In the morgue and in cemeteries, the recently deceased are waking up. One grandfather is alight with hope that his grandson will be returned, but one husband is aghast at what his adored wife has become.

A horror novel that transcends its genre by showing what the return of the dead might really mean to those who loved them.

An odd heatwave in Stockholm is topped off by a weird electrical surge that gives the populace an intense headache and causes all the appliances to stay on. Once it passes, things go back to normal with one exception; the recently departed have come back to life. This is the beginning of the new novel by the author of Let the Right One In.

I loved what Lindqvist did with his previous novel, but Handling the Undead left me uninspired. I didn't have the same sort of 'run out and tell everyone to read it' that I had after I finished Let the Right One In. I had actually forgotten, albeit only momentarily, how Handling had ended, even though I'd only finished it the night before. That's how much of an impact this book made on me.

What worked was the base concept. I was really looking forward to reading a completely different take on the whole zombie thing. How would people deal with their undead relatives returning to them? We get to see some of that explored through the three main families that move the story along. David's wife, Eva, dies in a car accident just shortly before the strange surge so he's at her bedside when she returns to life. Gustav's grandson passed away a few months before the surge, but becomes reanimated as well. Flora's grandfather finds his own way home from the funeral home, scaring Flora and her grandmother half to death. Each family has to deal with this new situation and each does in their own way.

The writing is haunting, but the story itself is relatively slow and plods along towards the end.

What didn't work for me was the multiple POV's. I'd just get into what was happening with Gustav and we'd be switched to David or Flora. Tossed into the mix were short blurbs at the end of some chapters that were filled with government insights, military reports, foreign news reports about the situation in Stockholm; honestly some of those were more interesting than the main plot lines. The end felt rushed and, in my opinion, was unsatisfying. Just as things started getting interesting the book ended.

This didn't feel even remotely anything like what JVL did for vampires in Let the Right One In at all.  I suppose I was hoping for more than what was delivered, but the book still gets an 'it was OK' from me.