★★½ -- Undeadly as a whole feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. I expected to thoroughly enjoy a book incorporating necromancy and Egyptian mytho★★½ -- Undeadly as a whole feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. I expected to thoroughly enjoy a book incorporating necromancy and Egyptian mythology. However, there were things about the novel that just rubbed me the wrong way. For one, I couldn’t connect with the protagonist, Molly, because I found her quite annoying. As she admits more than once in her narrative, she is shallow. In this case, I feel the descriptor suits her superficial values in addition to what I felt was a lack of character depth and development. I didn’t like her quite enough to root for her through all her problems, so I didn’t enjoy the story as much as I could have otherwise. Her decision-making skills are often questionable at best, and downright irresponsible in other cases. It is clear that her boyfriend comes back wrong, but it takes her the entirety of the novel to own up to her mistake and do anything about it. Her attitude is what I can only think to describe as “valley girl” much of the time. If she said “Whatevs.” one more time, I think I would have attempted to reach through the book and slap her.
Despite these shortcomings, there are certainly aspects of the novel I enjoyed. I enjoyed the mythology of the novel, with the Egyptian gods, the reapers, and the necromancers. I thought the concepts presented here were interesting. I liked that Molly has to deal with her decision to serve Anubis as a binding one, even though it was made in a dream and she is really quite immature about it sometimes. I can cut Molly some slack for her attitude because she had to deal with so many life-changing bombs dropped on her at once. And when she is actually being cute instead of annoying, her narrative is fun and witty. The secondary characters (especially Rath) were interesting and I find myself wanting to know more about them.
Overall, I enjoyed Undeadly enough to seek out the next installment, Unchosen. The book leaves off on a cliffhanger which leaves you wanting more. This novel is good for those wanting a non-serious, light read. It may be better suited to younger readers who will likely find Molly to be more entertaining than irksome–but not too young, as there are some sexual themes.
This book was obtained freely from the publisher, Harlequin Teen, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
★★½ -- This novel sounded interesting. The concept of family being confined to bunkers because something went wrong reminded me of Fallout 3. The idea★★½ -- This novel sounded interesting. The concept of family being confined to bunkers because something went wrong reminded me of Fallout 3. The idea that Sherry’s family had just run out of food, and that she must venture up into a ruined world she left behind 3 years ago, one full of flesh-hungry mutants, sounded like it could provide plenty of thrills and action. However, despite its best intentions, The Other Life falls flat. The writing comes off as simplistic and uninteresting. I had trouble connecting with any of the characters. When Sherry comes out of the bunker for the first time, it doesn’t seem to affect her very much. In fact, she doesn’t seem very affected by the discovery of the wasteland that used to be her hometown, either. Since the protagonist lacks depth, it is no surprise that the secondary characters are also shallow and one-dimensional. For a novel that seems advertised as a horror/dystopian novel, little time is spent around the Weepers or focusing on what’s been lost. Thus, The Other Life loses its chance to bring in terror and feelings of regret, loss, adjustment.
Most of the feelings in this novel are devoted to the quick-to-develop relationship between Sherry and Joshua. Like the rest of this book, their relationship feels a bit hollow. Because it developed over the course of a mere few days, to me it lacks depth and meaning. The strongest thing this novel has going for it is the twist revealed at the end, but unfortunately, the twist is just setting us up for the sequel — we don’t see it come into play here. However, since I didn’t enjoy The Other Life very much (if it were much longer, I’m not sure I would have finished it), I don’t think I will be moving on to the next installment. If you like dystopian novels that are primarily about romance, and don’t mind a simple writing style that lacks depth, you may want to give The Other Life a chance. The plot was interesting, I just felt like it failed to live up to its potential....more
This was a very quick read. I think it took me all of 10-15 minutes. I'd say it's a good book to have out as a coffee table book, or in a waiting roomThis was a very quick read. I think it took me all of 10-15 minutes. I'd say it's a good book to have out as a coffee table book, or in a waiting room. Some of the examples are very funny, others less so. You may have already seen several of these funny answers somewhere on the internet (funnyexams.com comes to mind). The humor of the book is somewhat lessened to me because I'm concerned that many of the examples are fake. If you notice, *several* of the examples are written in the same "handwriting". It becomes quite clear at this point that the answers are written in various handwriting typefaces. I feel like the book would have been better if the examples were more authentic. Being able to think that students actually used these answers adds a greater level of humor for me. Overall, I would not recommend purchasing this book other than in the circumstances I mentioned above. If you happen to see the book somewhere, however, it's worth a quick flip-through....more
I thought I would be a fan of this book. I really did. I like zombie books, and I like a good survival story in a post-apocalyptic setting. Combine thI thought I would be a fan of this book. I really did. I like zombie books, and I like a good survival story in a post-apocalyptic setting. Combine that with a strong heroine, and I thought I had myself an enjoyable novel. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I did not like this book.
It started out well enough. Actually, scratch that. It started off with me wondering how I received an e-Book with such broken formatting. I quickly realized that it was another of those stylistic things. I’ve been taken aback by this before in Blood Red Road and Shatter Me, so I moved past it and did my best to move on. However, I think it does bear mentioning that you should be prepared to find zero quotation marks in this book. In a book that uses dialogue and inner thoughts to drive the plot, it sometimes becomes difficult to muddle through exactly who is speaking, and if Temple is speaking aloud or in her head.
That aside, the book started off on a pretty good foot. It was a book about a young girl making her way in a country defeated by mindless zombies. She is thoughtful, considering God and the way things may have been before — when there were enough people to keep civilization running smoothly. But Temple knows that God works in mysterious ways, and that nature will always win. She moves on from place to place as the zombies or nature itself force her out. Pretty soon on from there it becomes apparent what the problem with this book is. At least, what I consider to be the problem.
That is, the author. Trying far too hard. This novel is chock full of purple prose and leading situations. Alden Bell has tried too hard to craft a literary zombie novel, and to me it shows. This is a book the author clearly intended to be analyzed in an English class, with students pain-stakingly examining between the lines for evidence of allegory, symbolism, motifs and themes. In my opinion, this is not a book written to be enjoyed, and it was not. I stuck it through to the end, because I hate leaving a book unfinished. But by the last few chapters, I was sorry I had done so, because the forced literary elements just piled on at the novel’s conclusion.
I’d only recommend this novel if you consider yourself a person that enjoys the kind of work that goes with reading a novel not just for enjoyment, but for hidden messages. Perhaps you will find yourself a good match for this book....more
Like several others, I was drawn to I Am Number Four after seeing the movie previews. I'll preface this review by saying this: I like science fiction Like several others, I was drawn to I Am Number Four after seeing the movie previews. I'll preface this review by saying this: I like science fiction novels and I like young adult novels. That said, I really wanted to like this book, I did. Indeed, I did like the general storyline, ideas and characters. However, the writing just plain put me off. I can't tell if the writing is purposely succinct, but it reads like a fanfiction of merely average quality. Frankly, the style comes off as amateurish and left a bad taste in my mouth. I think the most advanced vocabulary word used in the entire novel was segue. Perhaps the terse prose was intentional to attract younger readers. I strongly dislike the idea of dumbing things down just to appeal to today's youth. This book had potential--unfortunately, it couldn't quite live up to it. ...more
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