Review: LOVE YOU TO DEATH

Love You To Death by Meg Cabot
Book 1 of The Mediator series
Narrated by Johanna Parker
Format: paperback, audiobook
Genre: YA, urban fantasy

About Love You To Death:

Meet Susannah Simon: she's a typical teenage girl, who just happens to be a ghost-hunter ...oh, and she's also dead-over-heels for Jesse - the sexiest spook ever! But can this girl get her ghost? In "Love You to Death", Suze arrives in California and has barely unpacked when her mediator skills are put to the test. A vicious spirit in her new school is hell-bent on making her life a complete nightmare, but Suze is more than ready to kick some serious ghost butt if she has to. In "High Stakes", Suze's new life is looking up - cool friends, pool parties and getting to know Jesse (swoon), but then a desperate spirit asks for her help. Suddenly she's on the trail of a creepy local businessman, who just might be a vampire. Life just got dead complicated. Again.

Source: Info in the About Love You To Death was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7704979-love-you-to-death-high-stakes on 13/10/2012.

Review:

I've never tried Meg Cabot before so I decided to start with this one. Another reason for picking up this book is that, I already have the book. Bought it on sale at Tesco and had been sitting in my TBR pile for the longest time! Third reason is that it's in my genre, urban fantasy. Fourth reason is that the audio format is free from the Library. And last but not the least, I love listening to Johanna Parker! So the moment I knew that there is an audio format of this book by Johanna Parker, I would have bought it if it wasn't free from the library. But good thing for my budget, I didn't have to. So, biased as I am with Johanna Parker, it goes without saying that the narrator is going to rate a 5 out of 5 even before I started listening to this audiobook!

What I love the most about this book, though, is the character development. This is a young adult (YA) book right? But there isn't any of that too stupid to live (TSTL) characteristics that some authors think that they must endow their characters if they are YA to make them YA. WTF! Thank god Meg Cabot is not one of them! Anyway, Suze, our main protagonist, still make mistakes as one expects of a young person but somehow the author manages to make it so that it does not feel like our young protagonist is TSTL. Instead it makes a reader relate to the character. It makes Suze endearing instead of annoying.

This is the shortest audiobook I've ever listened to, giving it the impression that this book is a whole lot quicker than the 6 hours it is suppose to be. I imagine that if I was reading the paperback (without listening to the audiobook format at the same time), I would say that this book is a quick little read!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 3
Pace = (5 hours & 59 minutes listening time)
Plot = 4
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries

Thank you to the RCT Library for letting me borrow this audiobook.

FTC Disclosure:
The audiobook format was borrowed from the library. The paperback omnibus was purchased from Tesco with personal funds. No money received for this review.

Review: THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO

The Knife Of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Book 1 of the Chaos Walking series
Read by Humphrey Bower
Genre: middlegrade/YA fantasy
Format: paperback & audiobook

About The Knife Of Never Letting Go:

Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee -- whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not -- stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden -- a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.

But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought?

Source: Info in the About The Knife Of Never Letting Go was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2118745.The_Knife_of_Never_Letting_Go on 08/04/2013.

Review:

I've heard about Patrick Ness but I've never really picked up his work because the premise didn't attract my interest. In fact it made me, a fantasy geek, shy away from it. Until the World Book Night organization gave me a copy. And this book got read.

I kind of find the story telling quality annoying. It has a middlegrade tone but the book is suppose to be YA since the main protagonist seems to be in the "13 years old" age range. OK so the protagonist is just a kid. 13 years old? Not sure since their month seems to be 13 months long instead of 12. Anyway, so a bit of stupidity could be expected as part of him being an adolescent kid and all. But it seems that Todd is not only stupid but his sense of self-preservation is a lot more stunted than everybody else's. A scary bad guy comes at you and you just stand there and let him take your knife away and let him beat the shit out of you. What kind of person just stands there? Todd obviously. For a YA and/or middlegrade book, The Knife Of Never Letting Go takes on dark adult themes like murder and letting a loved one die to save your own skin. Add this with the stupid protagonist. And I was a royally annoyed reader! This may be a good marketing technique. Probably ratchets the suspense up or whatever. But it only annoys me to hell and back. I had to stop reading before I spontaneously combust from annoyance! It was stop-start like that all through out the book. You can safely say that this book wasn't a quick read. But it wasn't all bad. The author knows how to tug on the emotional heartstrings of the readers and I think this is the most redeeming quality of this book. Plus the narration was clear and distinct. The world building is not intricate but beautiful none the less. However the thing which clinches this book as a goner for me is the cliffhanger ending. That's it! No more Patrick Ness books for me!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 2
Character development = 3
Story itself = 3
Ending = 3.5
World building = 3.5
Cover art = 2
Pace = 1 (paperback) / (audiobook: 12hrs and 32mins listening time)
Plot = 3
Narration = 3.5

Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Chaos Walking Series:


Thank you to the World Book Night organization for the free paperback copy of The Knife Of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness which in turn shall be passed on to someone else.

FTC Disclosure:
The paperback copy was received for free from the World Book Night organization. The audiobook format was purchased with private funds. No money received for this review.

Review: THE DAEMON PRISM

The Daemon Prism by Carol Berg
Read by Angele Masters, David DeVries, Daniel May & Eric Brooks
Book 3 of The Soul Mirror (Collegia Magica #3) series
Genre: renaissance / fantasy
Format: paperback & unabridged audiobook

About The Daemon Prism:

“Thou’rt Fallen, Dante. Born in frost-cold blood; suckled on pain. Thy repentance was ever a lie…”

Dante the necromancer is the most reviled man in Sabria, indicted by the King, the Temple, and the Camarilla Magica for crimes against the living and the dead. Yet no judgment could be worse than his enemies’ cruel vengeance that left him crippled in body and mind. Dante seeks to salve pain and bitterness with a magical puzzle - a desperate soldier’s dream of an imprisoned enchantress and a faceted glass that can fill one’s uttermost desires.

But the dream is a seductive trap that ensnares Dante’s one-time partners and unlocks his own deepest fears. Haunted, blind, driven to the verges of the world, Dante risks eternal corruption and the loss of everything he values to unravel a mystery of ancient magic, sacred legend, and divine truth…

Source: Info in the About The Daemon Prism was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7854686-the-daemon-prism on 29/08/2012.

[Image Credit: Wes-Talbott]

Review:

This is my first audiobook I listened to where there are four readers involved and I find that I kinda liked it! It's not a dramatization but the book is written in such a way that there is a swapping of POVs as the story is told. And the narrators take turns as their character's POV tells the story. Really fun to listen to. Specially that I've listened to David DeVries and Angele Masters with Books one and two respectively already. But even that got trumped up in awesomeness with the twistiness of the plot! I knew from Book 1 and Book 2 that the plot is devilishly twisty, still the plot threw me a surprise or two. Ah, lots and lots of brownie points to the author for the twisty plot!! However the theme of Dante batting for the other team is rapidly becoming a tired old tune that I wish Carol Berg hasn't recycled that theme. Also, there were many little holes in the plot. Sure, irritating... But, I choose to ignore it... because I also like Carol Berg's rendition of the Christian's "War In Heaven" idea as the story's over-arc-ing plot. Just familiar enough to make a solid connection with the reader. Different enough to hold the reader's interest. And woven masterfully into the tapestry of this trilogy to make it the book's own. Fab! I also noticed that the titles of the books in this trilogy contains words pertaining to optics. Spirit Lens. Soul Mirror. And now Daemon Prism. I wondered about it from the start and the answer slowly unfolded as the story progressed. Wonderful! ....Having said that, I don't know... maybe because I've read the Lighthouse doulogy first that now I am expecting the same level of awesomeness that the expectation bar has been set a bit too high and consequently I was a bit disappointed with this trilogy. And the reason for that disappointment, I could not pin point other than that maybe because the bar of expectation was high. So hopefully for you (who hasn't read the Lighthouse doulogy) this would not be the case and would enjoy this book even more than I did. My only advise is, don't read this book on it's own, gotta read Book 1 and Book 2 first, or this book wouldn't make a lot of sense.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4
Character development = 4
Story itself = 4
Ending = 4
World building = 4
Cover art = 4
Pace = (21.5-hour listening time)
Plot = 4.5
Narrators = 4.5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries


Thank you to Me And Reading for hosting a giveaway and made it possible for me to win a print copy of The Daemon Prism by Carol Berg.

World Book Night 2013

I gave away World Book Night (WBN) books at Pontypridd Library yesterday and it was a memorable experience! People welcomed the opportunity to read with a smile!! To give credit where credit is due, I think this is mostly due to the tireless efforts of our librarians! They told people about it and welcomed the opportunity to celebrate WBN! So a huge thank you to our librarians and to everybody who participated in the WBN celebration!!

What made it sad is me (I think). I haven't read my chosen book when I picked the title among the 20 WBN 2013 titles to choose from way back when (a month or so ago) I had to choose a book to give. And part of the "Giver agreement" was to read the book before the event. Which I did. So what happens if the Giver turns out that he/she didn't like the book? And that is exactly what happened to me!! So how can I give The Knife Of Never Letting Go to anybody?? And that was the main obstacle to this year's event. In the end I still have to give the books away, but there wasn't any of my enthusiasm of the last couple of years. I just try to keep in mind that not all people are the same. That even though the book is not for me, some might actually like it. Heck! Somebody at the WBN staff must have for this book to get picked! So I gave the book only to those who looked like they actually want to have it (except one) and wished them luck! Consequently I still have a few books left which I intend to donate to a hospital charity I know and can be picked by those who only actually wants the book enough to be willing to donate to the charity to have it. (That except one is a library employee so I feel less guilty about dumping The Knife Of Never Letting Go on him because if he didn't like it then he could just pass it on to someone else who wants to read a book in a library...)     This is also the book which is making me decide not to become a Giver next year. It has somehow leached my enthusiasm away. And that was how my World Book Night 2013 went. Did you celebrate WBN? If so, how was it?

WW28: COVENANT

WW28 book offering: Covenant by Dean Crawford

Members of the university sounded the alarm after no contact with her for twenty-four hours.

There starts the journey to solving the crime :)

About Covenant:
Book 1 of the Ethan Warner series

IT’S THE BIGGEST DISCOVERY IN HISTORY . . . BUT THERE ARE SOME THINGS MAN WAS NEVER MEANT TO KNOW. When archaeologist Lucy Morgan uncovers a seven-thousand-year-old tomb holding remains alien to our world, she realizes she has stumbled upon something important—something with the potential to rewrite history. But before Lucy can retrieve the remains, she’s abducted.

A former war correspondent in Iraq and Afghanistan, Ethan Warner has seen much action in the line of fire. Now back home in Chicago, he’s hoping to finally pick up the pieces of his broken life and begin to lead a more normal existence. But when called upon by Lucy’s family to help find her, he knows he cannot let them down. Especially since he knows firsthand what it’s like to have a loved one go missing.

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., detectives Nicola Lopez and Lucas Tyrell are called to an abandoned building to check out a possible homicide. What at first glance appears to be the bodies of overdose victims in a crack den is instead something more sinister. How is it possible that these emaciated, naked bodies—rotting in the sweltering heat of August—show signs of hypothermia?

Working independently, Ethan and the detectives each discover that a shadowy corporation may have something to do with Lucy’s disappearance and the mysterious bodies. And Ethan soon realizes that it’s not just Lucy’s life that’s at stake but the fate of the world, and he must risk everything to stop those willing to alter the course of history, before it’s too late.

In the tradition of books by Michael Crichton and James Rollins, Covenant combines science, suspense, and ingenious speculation to create an action-packed blockbuster not to be missed.

Source: Info in the About Covenant was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11957667-covenant on 27/12/2012.

WW28
A chance to showcase your favourite!

• First you grab our Wicked Wednesday pic.
• Then you grab a book. Turn to page 28. Take the first sentence. And then you post it in your site with a link back to WW28.
• Come back to Cherry Mischievous - WW28 and give us the url of your post (in a comment at a WW28 post) so that other WW28 readers can find your WW28 offering.

Review: BETRAYAL IN DEATH

Betrayal In Death by JD Robb
Book 12 of the In Death series
Narrated by Susan Ericksen
Genre: SciFi murder mystery, police investigation, crime fiction
Format: paperback & (unabridged) audiobook

About Betrayal In Death:

At the luxurious Roarke Palace Hotel, a maid walks into suite 4602 for the nightly turndown - and steps into her worst nightmare. A killer leaves her dead, strangled by a thin silver wire. He's Sly Yost, a virtuoso of music and murder. A hit man for the elite. Lieutenant Eve Dallas knows him well. But in this twisted case, knowing the killer doesn't help solve the crime. Because there's someone else involved. Someone with a more personal motive. And Eve must face a terrifying possibility - that the real target may, in fact, be her husband Roarke...

Source: Info in the About Betrayal In Death was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/762064.Betrayal_in_Death on 18/06/2012.

Review:

I just finished listening to Judgment In Death and was looking forward to listening to this book too! Here we meet more of Roarke's past, which I always like. However, the predictability factor is back with a vengeance. It was pretty easy to guess who the title of the book alludes to, which is disappointing. Having said that, the plot did manage a surprise which saved the book from total disaster. So among the books in the In Death series, this is not the brightest button in the basket. I'd say that this book is okey. Not too bad but not the greatest book ever. But it will feed your Eve Dallas addiction if you are already a fan. If you haven't started reading this series yet, I wouldn't suggest you reading this book because you would most likely be put off the series and miss the brilliant books that this series has to offer.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 3.5
Ending = 4
World building = 4
Cover art = 2
Pace = (approximately 12 hours of listening time)
Plot = 3
Narrator = 4

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 cherries