Empire in Black and Gold (Shadows of the Apt 1) Review

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(More customer reviews)I must admit that I was originally ambivalent about giving Empire of Black and Gold a read. The back cover outlines a world where tribes of humans have taken on certain aspects of insects; with such a premise, the potential for a REALLY stupid, unbelievable story is definitely there. Finally I picked up the book and was glad that I did. Far from being silly, Tchaikivsky takes the world he creates and makes it completely believable; suspension of disbelief is no problem. Tribes of humans have developed certain aspects of insects; ant kinden are warriors with the ability to think collectively, beetle kinden are intellectuals and master builders, Mantis Kinden are great martial artists and individual warriors (different from the ants who tend to fight collectively). Spider-kinden are spies etc.
The world is being threatened by the Wasp Kinden, a flying, war-like people that one cannot help comparing to the Roman Empire. It is up to a diverse group of college students representing different kinden to convince the world that the Wasps are a real threat. There's the rub. Adrian Tchaikovsky's insect world is one that has just left it's own dark ages, an age ruled by religious/mystical fanatics and their killer enforcers the Mantis Kinden. The world has moved into an age of "reason" and the new god is one of profit. And just like in our world its' many peoples are more than willing to bury their collective heads in the sand and pretend that the conquering of their neighbors by the Wasps is justified. All of this in order to maintain there lifestyles...even if that denial could potentially mean slavery and death. In the words of Pastor Martin Niemöller:
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.Although this is a fantasy novel, the themes are human and are happening today in different disguises. Tchaikovsky tackles fear of the "other", racism and classism. I was thoroughly entertained and can't wait for the next two novels in the trilogy to be released.

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Woman in the Wall Review

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(More customer reviews)This book was great! It is about a little girl named Anna who is very shy and likes to hide. One day Anna feels that she is at high risk when her mom wants to send her to school and to see a physchologist. To overcome her risk Anna decides to build a secret world inside the walls of her house. When Anna is in the walls she watches her famly and her older sister, Andrea's parties.I think that this book was really interesting. It is a book for people who enjoy reading books that are different. I recommend this book if you don't like scary books, but you do like a little bit of mystery. It is the type of book you cannot put down once you start, you have to keep reading.

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Odd Lot (Stories to Chill the Heart Series Book #1, Benjamin Franklin Award silver Best Mystery/Suspense 2001) (Storyteller of the Heart, 3) Review

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(More customer reviews)If you're a horror fan, you'll love this collection as much as I did. This book ranks right up next to Stephen King's stuff. It's dark, twisted, original, and each story is completely different than the one before it. The writing is tight and strong and pieces like "The Mason's Leach" and "The Strand" kept me thinking about them for days. The New England details add to the old ghost story appeal - although many of the stories are beyond "spooky" and into outright horror. A must read for any horror fan. Highly recommended.

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9 weird Twilight Zone-type tales from Bram Stoker Award-winner Steve Burt, first in the Stories to Chill the Heart Series (#2 Even Odder, #3 Oddest Yet, #4 Wicked Odd). Some of the stories' characters appear in the FreeKs series (FreeK Camp: Psychic Teens in a Paranormal Thriller is first in series).

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Abarat Review

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(More customer reviews)ABARAT is Clive Barker's best and most consistent book in quite some time. As with Barker's previous children's book, THE THIEF OF ALWAYS (which he wrote long before the Harry Potter craze), there's a simple purity about ABARAT that makes for a truly riveting and satisfying reading experience.
The first in a planned quartet of self-illustrated children's books, Clive Barker's ABARAT tells the story of Candy Quackenbush, a young girl from a conservative Midwestern town who finds herself drawn through an oceanic portal into an alternative world called the Abarat. The Abarat is actually an archipelago of twenty five islands (one for each hour of the day, and another existing outside of time). As she travels from island to island, the precociously independent Candy makes many strange humanoid and not-so-humanoid friends and not a few horrible enemies. Chief among her foes is Christopher Carrion, the Lord of the isle of Midnight, whose powers include the ability to make nightmares real.
This lavishly illustrated volumes is beautiful to look at and is also a pleasure to read. Barker's imagination is in top fertile form. There are no missed steps or idle meanderings as there have been in some of Barker's recent efforts. This is a great book for all ages, and for all kinds of readers. A great celebration of the imagination.

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The Engine's Child Review

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(More customer reviews)The idea of the story has a lot of potential: humanity restricted to a small island in a sea with no known end, struggle between the religious and scientific castes. another struggle between the wealthy and the disenfranchised, another between the city and country dwellers, and another between the forces of "what is" versus those of "what might be". There are endless allegorical and storytelling themes to follow here. I think the problem is that she didn't restrict herself to exploring just a few; rather, she tried to mix them all into the storyline. And the heroine, who should have tied all these facets together, was impossible for me to relate to. I never really understood what she was all about, nor what her "powers" were, nor why things were developing the way they did. I kept thinking it would all come together, but it didn't. Despite the tone of my coments, Phillips isn't a bad writer. There were a lot of beautifully done sections in the book, and some very thought-provoking ideas. I just think that if she focuses her attention, with a "narrow but deep" approach versus a "wide and shallow" one, she can (will) create some VERY good books.

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Reckless Review

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Being one of the few people left in the world who has not yet read anything by Cornelia Funke, I'm going to have to start this review by simply saying "Wow! - and wow again!" I can only imagine what I've been missing. From beginning to end, Reckless is an absolutely wonderful read and I am feeling kind of giddy at the prospect of reading, not only the future books in this series, but everything else this talented storyteller has written.
Reckless is the story of Jacob Reckless, his brother Will and a fairy tale land that exists beyond a mirror in their missing father's study. Having discovered the world when he was quite young, Jacob has been traveling there for years, losing himself in the dangers and adventures to be had there. Always careful to hide the truth about his double life, he's now cursing himself for a moment of recklessness that enabled Will to follow him into the Mirrorworld. There, Will is clawed and cursed and is now slowly turning to stone. Unless Jacob can find a way to break the curse - and soon - Will will become a gargoyle (Goyl). Complicating matters is that fact that Will is turning, not to some ordinary stone, but to jade. And there is - wouldn't you know it? - a legend about a Jade Goyl and the power such a being will wield. This makes Will a person of interest, so to speak, to some unsavory characters.
In Reckless, Cornelia Funke has created a complex world woven from myths and legends, many of which will be familiar to lovers of fairy tales and to those who have read the collected stories of the Brothers Grimm. The arcing story, however, is her own. She has populated her well-imagined world with interesting characters and has given them an engrossing plot. There is danger and suspense, mystery, love and hate, jealousy, bravery, sacrifice and revenge. Funke never once talks down to her readers and doesn't make the mistake of over-describing the Mirrorworld or the many beings found there. I appreciate that she provides me with enough material to point me in the right direction and then allows my own imagination to fill in the details. In addition, her pacing is excellent and the story builds beautifully. I simply could not set the book aside until I'd finished it. And now I want to read it all again, taking my time to savor all the delicious little things Funke gave us that make the world so real and the characters so believable.
One of my favorite aspects of Reckless was the slow reveal of Jacob's past in the Mirrorworld. I find myself very intrigued by Jacob and am confident that, in future books (Funke is planning 2 or 3 more), we will learn a lot more about him, his past and his relationships with other characters. He has some nicely murky bits, some shades of grey - characteristics I tend to appreciate in protagonists. I'm also really looking forward to learning more about Fox, whose past is so entwined with his.
Reckless is a dark story with blood, death and some disturbing images. (For example, Sleeping Beauty, never awoken by her prince, still lies in her tower, faded and, according to Jacob, dead. The thorns have grown thick around the tower and in them hang the corpses of those who were either trying to rescue her or to cash in on the value of her bed.) I mention this only because I know that a lot of young children are big fans of Funke's earlier books. Since I haven't read those books, I don't know how the violence level compares, but parents might want to read Reckless before giving it to children under the suggested age of 10. (If your child made it all the way through the Harry Potter series, I don't think Reckless will prove too disturbing for them.)
I wouldn't want to live in the Mirrorworld, nor would it be a safe place to linger for too long. But I am definitely looking forward to visiting it again in the books to come.
Very highly recommended.Heads up to Kindle readers: I part read/part listened to this book on Kindle. The first page of each chapter contains artwork along with text. That text is TINY on the Kindle (and I mean TINY) and doesn't change when you adjust the font size. In addition, when you switch to text-to-speech, Kindle apparently 'reads' those same pages as pictures because the reader skips right over them. Because there are a lot of chapters in this book, this quickly became pretty annoying. After seeing the hardcover edition of the book, I felt the black and white illustrations added a very nice element. For that reason, and to address the Kindle problem, I ordered a hardcover for my re-read and to place in my collection.
ETA: Currently, Reckless doesn't seem to be available on Kindle (I pre-ordered mine some time ago and received it in the wee hours of the morning on release day just as expected). Perhaps Amazon is aware of the problem and has temporarily pulled the Kindle version while they address it?


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