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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2204 KP) rated Yankee Doodle Dead in Books
Feb 17, 2024
Retired General Shot on the 4th
Annie Darling is getting ready for the festival that Broward’s Rock is hosting for the fourth of July. Not only is her bookstore selling at a booth, but she’s on the library board, which is putting everything on, and is the benefit of the proceeds. Unfortunately, a newcomer to the island is also on the board, and making waves there and all over the island. So when someone shoots him during the fireworks, the only real question is who didn’t have a motive. Can Annie and her husband, Max, figure out what happened?
I struggled a bit with the first half of the book. It was obvious early on who the victim would be. While we were setting up suspects and motives, his antics were such an over the top cliché, it wasn’t always fun. Fortunately, things get better once Annie and Max start investigating. We get a somber yet logical climax, but we still have fun with all the series regulars along the way. I hope the victims get a little less predictable in future books, but series fans will still enjoy this one.
I struggled a bit with the first half of the book. It was obvious early on who the victim would be. While we were setting up suspects and motives, his antics were such an over the top cliché, it wasn’t always fun. Fortunately, things get better once Annie and Max start investigating. We get a somber yet logical climax, but we still have fun with all the series regulars along the way. I hope the victims get a little less predictable in future books, but series fans will still enjoy this one.
A Bibliophagist (113 KP) rated The Toll (Arc of a Scythe, #3) in Books
Feb 5, 2020
Characters (3 more)
Worldbuilding
Plot
Pacing
A fantasic finale
After the amazing cliffhanger of Thunderhead, I rushed to pick up this because I just HAD TO KNOW. This cover is even prettier, they really nailed this series (sans the transformers font) and I hope it inspires more YA books to hire illustrators and not photo manip garbage. I'm an Illustrator though, so I'm biased. This review will have spoilers for Thunderhead, so don't read if you haven't read that!
The Toll picks up immediately after Thunderhead. Goddard has returned the MidMerica, no one knows that he was demoted to apprentice and with the death of Scythe Curie he stands uncontested for replacing Xenocrates. Anastasia and Rowan rest at the bottom of the ocean, and Goddard has made the site a site of remembrance to avoid any evidence being drudged up. The sinking of Endura is also squarely blamed on Rowan, and the world suffers as the Thunderhead punishes everyone, marking them unsavory. Cutting off communication with all but one, our former unsavory, Greyson.
With the rise of Goddard, the Schism amongst the Scythedom widens. He seizes more power, overturns rules and makes new ones and slowly starts taking control of other nations. Dubbing himself the Overblade. The story arches over 3 years post Thunderhead, and we jump around a little bit. During the three years Goddard continues to take a chokehold on the world, Greyson suddenly finds himself a living god amongst the tonists and humanity, as the only one able to speak to the thunderhead, he takes on the role of the Tonist's mythological figure, The Toll. Acting as a go-between, and manipulating those around him to fulfill the Thunderhead's goals.
Meanwhile, Faraday continues his search for the land of nod, making serious headway and discovering something that makes the Thunderhead uncertain. So the Thunderhead starts making plans. Faraday finds himself stranded with his helper, far away from the Scythedom, the Thunderhead and the horrible things that have been happening far away. He knows nothing of the fate of Marie, Goddard, Citra, Rowan, or the world. Finally, in the third year since the sinking of Endura, Rowan and Citra are raised from the depths, squirreled away by the Amazonian Scythes before Goddard knows they aren't dead. Being raised from the dead did wonders for Goddard's cause, so can Anastaisa's return do wonders for the plight of the old guard? But first Anastasia must plan and play her cards right, digging deep in the Thunderheads back brain to piece together mysteries long since written off and uncover the secrets of the Scythedom.
This book was really good, and a very satisfying finale to the series. The already rich worldbuilding is made richer by his choice to cut the world off from the Thunderhead, showing us what happens when people lose their connection to the world. He believably shows the influence one charismatic politician can have, and how easy it is for things to fall into disarray. You can tell he had a gameplan when he wrote these books, because everything comes together just right, not loose ends, everything had a purpose. Characters are tested, grow and develop. New parts of the world are further explored, completing the picture he begun in the other two books. I thoroughly enjoyed his take on the age-old sci-fi trope of "How does the benevolent computer protect humans from themselves". Well written, and elevated, especially in terms of other YA fiction. Shusterman really wrote a fantastic series. Once again, the romance is understated, but the emotions run deep enough at this point to pull at your heartstrings and make you believe in their love, even if it came from somewhat unbelievable beginnings.
This series is well worth the read, and a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stale and formulaic YA world.
The Toll picks up immediately after Thunderhead. Goddard has returned the MidMerica, no one knows that he was demoted to apprentice and with the death of Scythe Curie he stands uncontested for replacing Xenocrates. Anastasia and Rowan rest at the bottom of the ocean, and Goddard has made the site a site of remembrance to avoid any evidence being drudged up. The sinking of Endura is also squarely blamed on Rowan, and the world suffers as the Thunderhead punishes everyone, marking them unsavory. Cutting off communication with all but one, our former unsavory, Greyson.
With the rise of Goddard, the Schism amongst the Scythedom widens. He seizes more power, overturns rules and makes new ones and slowly starts taking control of other nations. Dubbing himself the Overblade. The story arches over 3 years post Thunderhead, and we jump around a little bit. During the three years Goddard continues to take a chokehold on the world, Greyson suddenly finds himself a living god amongst the tonists and humanity, as the only one able to speak to the thunderhead, he takes on the role of the Tonist's mythological figure, The Toll. Acting as a go-between, and manipulating those around him to fulfill the Thunderhead's goals.
Meanwhile, Faraday continues his search for the land of nod, making serious headway and discovering something that makes the Thunderhead uncertain. So the Thunderhead starts making plans. Faraday finds himself stranded with his helper, far away from the Scythedom, the Thunderhead and the horrible things that have been happening far away. He knows nothing of the fate of Marie, Goddard, Citra, Rowan, or the world. Finally, in the third year since the sinking of Endura, Rowan and Citra are raised from the depths, squirreled away by the Amazonian Scythes before Goddard knows they aren't dead. Being raised from the dead did wonders for Goddard's cause, so can Anastaisa's return do wonders for the plight of the old guard? But first Anastasia must plan and play her cards right, digging deep in the Thunderheads back brain to piece together mysteries long since written off and uncover the secrets of the Scythedom.
This book was really good, and a very satisfying finale to the series. The already rich worldbuilding is made richer by his choice to cut the world off from the Thunderhead, showing us what happens when people lose their connection to the world. He believably shows the influence one charismatic politician can have, and how easy it is for things to fall into disarray. You can tell he had a gameplan when he wrote these books, because everything comes together just right, not loose ends, everything had a purpose. Characters are tested, grow and develop. New parts of the world are further explored, completing the picture he begun in the other two books. I thoroughly enjoyed his take on the age-old sci-fi trope of "How does the benevolent computer protect humans from themselves". Well written, and elevated, especially in terms of other YA fiction. Shusterman really wrote a fantastic series. Once again, the romance is understated, but the emotions run deep enough at this point to pull at your heartstrings and make you believe in their love, even if it came from somewhat unbelievable beginnings.
This series is well worth the read, and a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stale and formulaic YA world.
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BookInspector (124 KP) rated Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay in Books
Sep 24, 2020
Let me begin by making a confession, I’ve always been a Harry Potter fan, and all the books are real gifts of God (in this case J.K. Rowling) to me. I personally think that not only children will enjoy this story, but grownups as well, because it has something to offer for both. After reading this delightful book I noticed, that the characters are really strong and very diverse. We have some shy ones, some sassy and sexy ones and also powerful and dominant ones. I really liked this variety of characters as it made the book interesting. This creation has very fast paced and adventurous story going on in there, which I really enjoyed as it didn’t make me bored. It is absolutely true that this story is of magic, friendship, love and good winning against evil. It’s absolutely awesome. As this book is original movie script it is very easy to read it and pages just fly past. Unfortunately, if you saw the movie there is no really need to read it, because it’s exactly the same as the book. However, if you got your hands on the book first, don’t forget to see the film and compare your vision of this book with the movie director’s.
Kristina (502 KP) rated Home Before Dark in Books
Dec 7, 2020
Contains spoilers, click to show
To the best of my knowledge, I've read all of Riley's books. I've enjoyed them, for the most part. This one felt similar to Lock Every Door, but I think I liked it better. Unfortunately, I did not like it was much as Final Girls or The Last Time I Lied. The back and forth was a tad bit confusing, but it was interesting to see the parallels in The Book and Maggie's life. I think the most interesting part was trying to determine whether or not the house is truly haunted or if her father was making everything up. To be honest, I was a little disappointed in the ending. I was kind of hoping for the house to actually be haunted - but the scene at the end of The Book (when Maggie is lifted up to the ceiling and dragged around) didn't strike me as scary so much as cliché. While the story was spooky, it certainly wasn't scary or disturbing. I conjured up so many different theories, I don't think I'd have been satisfied with any ending. But as a whole, it kept my attention and made me curious about how everything would tie together, so it was still worth reading. Not necessarily sure I'd recommend, though.
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