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I Love You Like a Brother by Alex Lahey
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I Love You Like A Brother is the highly anticipated album from Melbourne's Alex Lahey. After...
alternative rock pop
ClareR (5596 KP) rated The Final Revival of Opal and Nev in Books
Nov 21, 2021
The Final Revival of Opal and Nev is everything I could wish for in a book about a band. I loved Daisy Jones and The Six and for a moment, I thought Opal and Nev was going to be a rehash - BUT IT’S NOT!!! Don’t get me wrong, I love them both, but Opal is the woman for me! It’s that element of early Punk - Opal knows what she wants, and she’s not going to settle for anything less.
It’s written in the form of interviews: what you see on the page is the transcript of the interviews conducted by S. Sunny Shelton, editor in chief of Aural magazine. Sunny has an ulterior motive. Her father was the drummer in Opal and Nev’s band, and was beaten to death at one of their first gigs - Sunny hadn’t been born when this happened.
Opal and Nev’s band has been a fascination for her since childhood, so when they announce a revival concert, Sunny sees this as her chance to wet a book about them and perhaps find out more about her father along the way.
The writing is so atmospheric. I could feel myself in the concert hall, the recording studio, and there in the rooms (or planes) where Sunny was conducting her interviews. You get a real feel for the time - the 1970’s - and it’s inherent racism. It was really interesting to read of Opal’s life away from the band and in Paris, and how she coped without Nev (hint: just fine).
And just so you know: I would most definitely buy Opal and Nev’s albums (and there’s a Spotify playlist that I think has been created by Dawnie Wilson - it’s excellent!).
It’s written in the form of interviews: what you see on the page is the transcript of the interviews conducted by S. Sunny Shelton, editor in chief of Aural magazine. Sunny has an ulterior motive. Her father was the drummer in Opal and Nev’s band, and was beaten to death at one of their first gigs - Sunny hadn’t been born when this happened.
Opal and Nev’s band has been a fascination for her since childhood, so when they announce a revival concert, Sunny sees this as her chance to wet a book about them and perhaps find out more about her father along the way.
The writing is so atmospheric. I could feel myself in the concert hall, the recording studio, and there in the rooms (or planes) where Sunny was conducting her interviews. You get a real feel for the time - the 1970’s - and it’s inherent racism. It was really interesting to read of Opal’s life away from the band and in Paris, and how she coped without Nev (hint: just fine).
And just so you know: I would most definitely buy Opal and Nev’s albums (and there’s a Spotify playlist that I think has been created by Dawnie Wilson - it’s excellent!).
Jungle Animal Hair Salon - Wild Makeover
Games and Education
App
Cut, color, shampoo, style and dress up super cute jungle animals: sloth, leopard, toucan, elephant,...
A Bibliophagist (113 KP) rated Space Opera in Books
Jan 25, 2020 (Updated Jan 25, 2020)
Fun writing (2 more)
Creative
Witty
Overwritten (3 more)
Lacking plot
Disjointed and distracted
Boring
Technicolor Encyclopedia entry
Space Opera seems to be a book, that based on other reviews, you either love or hate. The love reviewers can't seem to tell me why they love it, most attempting to replicate the style of the author and relying on a menagerie of adjectives to express themselves. "A glitter punk, Eurovision romp!" "Technicolor whirlwind!" but not actually saying WHY they liked it, or just saying "well you didn't get the humor". The ones who disliked it are pretty clear, and as I struggled with this book I found I agreed with their complaints. However, I have to thank the sheer number of DNFs from the disliked group for causing me to, ironically, finish it. I hate DNFing books, to begin with, but when I saw just how many bad reviews didn't make it through, it felt as bad as the good reviews not actually reviewing anything. So I powered through, and honestly, it was worth finishing. The author really got back on track and it was a great ending.
Valente has in fact given us a Eurovision, glitter punk, electric baby with Douglas Adams, her writing fantastical and humorous, her characters vapid but in a washed-out musician kind of way. She really thought about this book, creating droves of aliens and probably destroying a number of thesauri to bring them to life. We follow Decibel Jones of the "oh you haven't heard of it, well we used to be a thing" Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeros. A washed-up, no longer active glitter punk band who is an amalgam of every band you probably are thinking of when trying to grasp what that description means.
The book opens with a wonderfully witty description of how there is in fact other life out there in the universe, life is easy to come by, they've just been off doing a galactic war and while they were gone we kind of popped up. Life is stupid. This part is the best part of the book. The humor is on point, the prose magnificant. She is spot on and very pointed in her argument for why war happens. It's people vs meat, and how does one determine something isn't meat, but in fact sentient? Well, no one really figured that out, hence the galactic war, but NOW post-war they think they've figured it out. Intergalactic Music competition. Makes sense, only something sentient could create music right?
Well, this year is a special year because Earth is invited, we've been deemed "may be sentient", but questionable enough that they'd rather not let us just hang out and become annoying someday. So we have to present a band and performance for consideration. We just have to not place last. If we don't place last, we're part of the club and we'll be a-ok. If we place last, we'll be destroyed, because they already think we're annoying and that will mean we're meat. People vs meat remember?
So, one day everyone on the planet earth, everyone, awake or sleeping is visited by the blue birdlike projection of our assigned guides, the Esca, and alien species that are new to the whole being accepted as a sentient thing, and will guide us through the competition. Which it is now telling us about, Suprise! They've chosen a list of musicians they think will do well, however it's outdated and only one band is really able to do it, the has-beens, who are they, Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeros. Time was rough on our glam-punk friends as it tends to be on musicians, they lost the third member about a decade ago, the two remaining no longer talk. Decibel is a trainwreck, and Oort St Ultraviolet is now just a dad who very much wants to be a regular dude. But now they're being whisked off into space to sing for the world's salvation.
Sounds pretty fun right? This plus Douglas Adams type prose and humor? A real knock out. Unfortunately, that story I just described takes up... maybe a quarter of the book, MAYBE. You can pull the main story out and put it into a book that might be too small to be a novella. Because of this, the backstory, development, and exploration of these characters are slim to nothing. There is some mind you, but very little. It isn't until the 180pg mark or so that Valente actually decides to focus on the plot, giving very little time to do the entire Grand Prix, the actual competition takes up a page. A 288-page book about a singing competition and only 1-2 pages is actually the singing competition. Tack on another 10 maybe for the weird cocktail death party right before, that didn't have enough attempted death to make any real point of it, plus maybe another 5-10 scattered throughout the book on the back story and leading up to the story, and we've got MAYBE 25 pages of the actual plot. My math is wrong, I know, but it sure FEELS like this.
So, in a 288-page book, with 25 pages being the actual story, what are the other 263 pages? It was the author being somewhat... I don't mean to sound mean, but full of herself? She tried WAY too hard on this style she was going for. It felt like an "oh, you liked that opening chapter, didn't you? You totally read it out loud to your boyfriend, well here let me give it to you again, and again, and ... again". This book suffers from a severe case of needing to be edited. Of someone saying "that's enough now dear, but what about the story". Every few pages of the backstory of the plot we got were met with full chapters, sometimes multiple of Valente describing yet another alien species she's created, in yet another chain of witty simile and metaphor. To the point where sometimes I no longer knew what was happening, they were all interchangeable, which alien are we talking about now? It went on and on and on, and I never knew how such humorous writing could be just so soul suckingly boring. When she ran out of aliens it was describing previous grand prix's and how the aliens sang. In the exact same, formulaic, witty simile, witty simile, witty simile. Don't get me wrong, there were some absolute gems in here. Some that made me laugh out loud. But it's all about the ratio. I would trade in a heartbeat the ratio in this book. 263 pages of plot, and 25 pages of aliens described in witty simile. It took everything in my power after the third alien chapter to not skim. But she fit so much into a sentence that I was scared somewhere hiding would be a plot point (spoiler alert, there wasn't, skim away).
Then around the 180 page mark, a flip was switched, it was almost as if she went "crap, a story!" the adjective use was slimmed down dramatically and we actually got more than one chapter in a row with a plot point. But at this point, it was too late, the end of the book was hurdling at us and very little had happened and the book pretty much fizzled out with an "oh yeah, the Grand Prix happened". Mind you, the finale was very heartwarming and I liked it a lot. I just wish I hadn't had to read a full chapter about hairbrush interspecies sex to get there, and instead had more of it. But ironically, the hairbrush sex had more plot advancement that the majority of the book.
The ending did, however, for one moment, make me forget that I had just read an encyclopedia of descriptors and was happy for a few minutes. So good on her for that. That proves to me that she can write more than glittery descriptions, which then made me sad I didn't have more of that writing. With just a spattering of the gold of her opening chapters. I am glad I finished the book, the story, what little there was, was worth the read. However, I have no desire to read any other of Valente's writing now, and if there was a sequel, I just don't think I have it in me to read another 263 pages of description. Cool idea, good ability, just terribly executed. She could easily have released a separate book, expanding on a handful of species she established in the book, like an alien compendium, and I would have read it, and laughed, and been okay because I went into it expecting it. But I went into this wanting a story, not a neon throwup encyclopedia of just how "oh so creative" Valente is. That came off harsh, I know, but they blew past the fine line of interesting and well into the self-serving, look what I can do, territory. What suffered for it wasn't just a large number of DNFs, and my sanity for a few days, but an actually interesting, fun, Eurovision, glitter punk, heartwarming story about loss, life, how stupid it is, how beautiful it is, and why we should fight for it. It's in there, hiding beneath the layers and layers of word vomit. I want that story. Please release a second edition that is just that, the opening, and say... 3-5 of your favorite aliens Valente, I promise I'll give it another try if you do.
Valente has in fact given us a Eurovision, glitter punk, electric baby with Douglas Adams, her writing fantastical and humorous, her characters vapid but in a washed-out musician kind of way. She really thought about this book, creating droves of aliens and probably destroying a number of thesauri to bring them to life. We follow Decibel Jones of the "oh you haven't heard of it, well we used to be a thing" Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeros. A washed-up, no longer active glitter punk band who is an amalgam of every band you probably are thinking of when trying to grasp what that description means.
The book opens with a wonderfully witty description of how there is in fact other life out there in the universe, life is easy to come by, they've just been off doing a galactic war and while they were gone we kind of popped up. Life is stupid. This part is the best part of the book. The humor is on point, the prose magnificant. She is spot on and very pointed in her argument for why war happens. It's people vs meat, and how does one determine something isn't meat, but in fact sentient? Well, no one really figured that out, hence the galactic war, but NOW post-war they think they've figured it out. Intergalactic Music competition. Makes sense, only something sentient could create music right?
Well, this year is a special year because Earth is invited, we've been deemed "may be sentient", but questionable enough that they'd rather not let us just hang out and become annoying someday. So we have to present a band and performance for consideration. We just have to not place last. If we don't place last, we're part of the club and we'll be a-ok. If we place last, we'll be destroyed, because they already think we're annoying and that will mean we're meat. People vs meat remember?
So, one day everyone on the planet earth, everyone, awake or sleeping is visited by the blue birdlike projection of our assigned guides, the Esca, and alien species that are new to the whole being accepted as a sentient thing, and will guide us through the competition. Which it is now telling us about, Suprise! They've chosen a list of musicians they think will do well, however it's outdated and only one band is really able to do it, the has-beens, who are they, Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeros. Time was rough on our glam-punk friends as it tends to be on musicians, they lost the third member about a decade ago, the two remaining no longer talk. Decibel is a trainwreck, and Oort St Ultraviolet is now just a dad who very much wants to be a regular dude. But now they're being whisked off into space to sing for the world's salvation.
Sounds pretty fun right? This plus Douglas Adams type prose and humor? A real knock out. Unfortunately, that story I just described takes up... maybe a quarter of the book, MAYBE. You can pull the main story out and put it into a book that might be too small to be a novella. Because of this, the backstory, development, and exploration of these characters are slim to nothing. There is some mind you, but very little. It isn't until the 180pg mark or so that Valente actually decides to focus on the plot, giving very little time to do the entire Grand Prix, the actual competition takes up a page. A 288-page book about a singing competition and only 1-2 pages is actually the singing competition. Tack on another 10 maybe for the weird cocktail death party right before, that didn't have enough attempted death to make any real point of it, plus maybe another 5-10 scattered throughout the book on the back story and leading up to the story, and we've got MAYBE 25 pages of the actual plot. My math is wrong, I know, but it sure FEELS like this.
So, in a 288-page book, with 25 pages being the actual story, what are the other 263 pages? It was the author being somewhat... I don't mean to sound mean, but full of herself? She tried WAY too hard on this style she was going for. It felt like an "oh, you liked that opening chapter, didn't you? You totally read it out loud to your boyfriend, well here let me give it to you again, and again, and ... again". This book suffers from a severe case of needing to be edited. Of someone saying "that's enough now dear, but what about the story". Every few pages of the backstory of the plot we got were met with full chapters, sometimes multiple of Valente describing yet another alien species she's created, in yet another chain of witty simile and metaphor. To the point where sometimes I no longer knew what was happening, they were all interchangeable, which alien are we talking about now? It went on and on and on, and I never knew how such humorous writing could be just so soul suckingly boring. When she ran out of aliens it was describing previous grand prix's and how the aliens sang. In the exact same, formulaic, witty simile, witty simile, witty simile. Don't get me wrong, there were some absolute gems in here. Some that made me laugh out loud. But it's all about the ratio. I would trade in a heartbeat the ratio in this book. 263 pages of plot, and 25 pages of aliens described in witty simile. It took everything in my power after the third alien chapter to not skim. But she fit so much into a sentence that I was scared somewhere hiding would be a plot point (spoiler alert, there wasn't, skim away).
Then around the 180 page mark, a flip was switched, it was almost as if she went "crap, a story!" the adjective use was slimmed down dramatically and we actually got more than one chapter in a row with a plot point. But at this point, it was too late, the end of the book was hurdling at us and very little had happened and the book pretty much fizzled out with an "oh yeah, the Grand Prix happened". Mind you, the finale was very heartwarming and I liked it a lot. I just wish I hadn't had to read a full chapter about hairbrush interspecies sex to get there, and instead had more of it. But ironically, the hairbrush sex had more plot advancement that the majority of the book.
The ending did, however, for one moment, make me forget that I had just read an encyclopedia of descriptors and was happy for a few minutes. So good on her for that. That proves to me that she can write more than glittery descriptions, which then made me sad I didn't have more of that writing. With just a spattering of the gold of her opening chapters. I am glad I finished the book, the story, what little there was, was worth the read. However, I have no desire to read any other of Valente's writing now, and if there was a sequel, I just don't think I have it in me to read another 263 pages of description. Cool idea, good ability, just terribly executed. She could easily have released a separate book, expanding on a handful of species she established in the book, like an alien compendium, and I would have read it, and laughed, and been okay because I went into it expecting it. But I went into this wanting a story, not a neon throwup encyclopedia of just how "oh so creative" Valente is. That came off harsh, I know, but they blew past the fine line of interesting and well into the self-serving, look what I can do, territory. What suffered for it wasn't just a large number of DNFs, and my sanity for a few days, but an actually interesting, fun, Eurovision, glitter punk, heartwarming story about loss, life, how stupid it is, how beautiful it is, and why we should fight for it. It's in there, hiding beneath the layers and layers of word vomit. I want that story. Please release a second edition that is just that, the opening, and say... 3-5 of your favorite aliens Valente, I promise I'll give it another try if you do.
BookwormMama14 (18 KP) rated Siren's Fury in Books
Jan 2, 2019
**Please note that this is the second book in The Storm Siren Series. While I always strive to keep my reviews spoiler-FREE, if you have not read the first book, you MAY encounter unknown information in this review**
Mary Weber's unique world is completely incredible. Rich with colorful descriptions and details, I feel like this is a real place I would read about in my history books. Granted...the magical elements kind of give it away as being fiction.
One thing that I have come to appreciate in Young Adult Fiction is the use of symbolism. Reminds me a lot of Ted Dekker's circle trilogy. The evil and darkness vs. The good and pure. The struggle that can occur when we open ourselves to the darkness...And the power that it can have over us IF WE LET IT! Ahh! SO GOOD!!!! And this story just keeps getting more and more intense. This book has a much more steam punk feel to it vs the first book. Different country, different culture, different feel. I LOVE IT!
I do enjoy a book series that continues the story line because it gives the author a chance to develop the characters and thicken the plot. And also makes me glad that I usually wait till these books are all released before I dive into them...So I can, you know...BINGE READ!!!
As Nym continues on her journey of harnessing her powers and stopping a war before it starts...We meet a few new characters and a few old ones tag along. Forget everything you think you know.......And be prepared to be enchanted by this tale of good vs. evil. Make sure you have book 3 ready to go before you start this one...TRUST ME...You are going to want to keep reading.
I found Siren's Fury at my local library. I was not required to write a review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.
Mary Weber's unique world is completely incredible. Rich with colorful descriptions and details, I feel like this is a real place I would read about in my history books. Granted...the magical elements kind of give it away as being fiction.
One thing that I have come to appreciate in Young Adult Fiction is the use of symbolism. Reminds me a lot of Ted Dekker's circle trilogy. The evil and darkness vs. The good and pure. The struggle that can occur when we open ourselves to the darkness...And the power that it can have over us IF WE LET IT! Ahh! SO GOOD!!!! And this story just keeps getting more and more intense. This book has a much more steam punk feel to it vs the first book. Different country, different culture, different feel. I LOVE IT!
I do enjoy a book series that continues the story line because it gives the author a chance to develop the characters and thicken the plot. And also makes me glad that I usually wait till these books are all released before I dive into them...So I can, you know...BINGE READ!!!
As Nym continues on her journey of harnessing her powers and stopping a war before it starts...We meet a few new characters and a few old ones tag along. Forget everything you think you know.......And be prepared to be enchanted by this tale of good vs. evil. Make sure you have book 3 ready to go before you start this one...TRUST ME...You are going to want to keep reading.
I found Siren's Fury at my local library. I was not required to write a review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.
Weed Firm: RePlanted
Games and Stickers
App
Weed Firm: RePlanted. The Vicious and Lawless Career of Mr. Ted Growing The updated version of the...
Dave Mustaine recommended No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith by Motorhead in Music (curated)
Rick Astley recommended Highway to Hell by AC/DC in Music (curated)
