Tag Archives: Science fiction

Outpost by Ann Aguirre

13 Dec

10193062

Book Two in the Razorland Series

Rating: Three out of Five Stars

Oh Ann, why do you have to leave off on such cliffhangers?! And now we have to wait and wait and wait until Book 3 comes out. In the words of Stephanie Tanner “How Rude!”

Alright, not really rude. I would much rather be aching for more than have a bad ending and not caring when the next book is released. My feelings about this book are muddled. I truly love the story and characters but the first half was so slow for me. It wasn’t BANG BANG outta the gate like Enclave. I understand the transition needed to be made but there was a lot of thinking and not as much action as I wanted in the beginning. That being said, the second half of Outpost gave me everything I enjoyed about Enclave. It was action packed with the right amount of emotions sprinkled in so you weren’t overwhelmed. And the dynamics between the characters flourished which brought me deeper into the story.

About the characters…I like Deuce, but sometimes I get a titch bit frustrated with her. Give me a badass heroine who is not afraid to be herself and I am in! Unfortunately, Deuce’s guilt annoyed me at times. Part of me wanted to be like “Oh well, get over Stalker already!” But I did reign in some of my antics because Aguirre does a nice job of explaining how Deuce just doesn’t understand emotions the way we do today. As for Stalker and Fade, I plainly don’t understand Fade’s appeal. I am the type of person who usually crushes on the protag’s love interest but I can’t get into Fade. Perhaps because Aguirre makes him a little TOO emotionally distant at times and then a little TOO emotional at others? It could be. Hopefully book three will explain it more.

Overall it was an excellent follow up to Enclave. Nicely done not changing Deuce into a frilly-pants but not keeping her uncivilized either. The internal conflict was amazing to read.

BTW… please please please include Stone and Thimble and Robin in Hoarde! While the first bridge story was very mediocre, Endurance (Razorland 1.5) still makes me want to see them in the next book. The writing was meh but the bonus to the story was bomb! K thanks!

Oh and I am super stoked to read the second bridge book Foundation (Razorland o.5)!

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

21 Nov

Book One of Leviathan Series

Rating: Three out of Five Stars

I am a huge Scott Westerfeld fan after the Uglies series. It’s on my “Ultimate Top Favorite Series” list so I thought I would push my boundaries a little bit with a an author I enjoy. So cheers to me for frolicking into the meadow of steam-punk land hand in hand with my good friend Scotty! Whoo!

Unfortunately, I was kind of punched in the face by a meadow tiger with this book. I hadn’t really done any research on steam punk before but I figured “how different could it be?”. Being a SciFi, fantasy, dystopia, post-apocolyptic genre lover I talk A LOT about WSOD (Willing Suspension of Disbelief). For those that don’t know what it means, it’s basically how far can an author push a made-up world/plot in story before your brain goes “this is too surreal for me to enjoy”. Leviathan exploded my WSOD. The concepts were just too crazy for my meek mind to handle. The only way I had any idea what was happening was because of the pictures that Westerfeld inserted into the chapters. I read a lot of crazy shit, dragons that talk, mind magic, hell I love the batshit crazy world of Alice in Wonderland! But this history meets furturistic technology, Darwin meets Apple, Inc. Holy crap balls, what a ride.

Needless to stay, I like to be punched once in awhile. It’s the only way to learn and grow and all that jazzy jazz. I like the overall plot and characters, even though it was all a tich bit Bourne Identity-ish (they NEVER get hurt? WTH!) and happenstance may be a little TOO coincidental.

If you are looking at moving into steam punk, this a good book to ease into. I will read the rest of the series eventually, but I think I need to get my bearings again, do a little research so I can comprehend the basics so that next time I will enjoy it and not play catch up the whole time.

So while frolicking may not have happened, I tripped and stumbled into a quite enjoyable genre, once I have background. Snaps for new books!

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