Review of Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Book Description from goodreads

"I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ.

Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” As her family lay dying, little Libby fled their tiny farmhouse into the freezing January snow. She lost some fingers and toes, but she survived–and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, Ben sits in prison, and troubled Libby lives off the dregs of a trust created by well-wishers who’ve long forgotten her.

The Kill Club is a macabre secret society obsessed with notorious crimes. When they locate Libby and pump her for details–proof they hope may free Ben–Libby hatches a plan to profit off her tragic history. For a fee, she’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club . . . and maybe she’ll admit her testimony wasn’t so solid after all.

As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the narrative flashes back to January 2, 1985. The events of that day are relayed through the eyes of Libby’s doomed family members–including Ben, a loner whose rage over his shiftless father and their failing farm have driven him into a disturbing friendship with the new girl in town. Piece by piece, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started–on the run from a killer."

My Girlfriend found this book on Goodreads and thought it sounded interesting so she ordered it. A week or so goes by and she's gotten the book and started reading it straight away. I saw her reading it a few times totally engrossed (something that rarely happens but, I love her nonetheless). She would peer up at me on occasion, feeling me watching her, and get this really cute surprised look on her face and say, "This book is reeeaalllly good! You have to read it!" Well, that might not be exactly what she said... but it was close. So, not wanting to disappoint, I finished the book I had been reading and started this one. I didn't have any preconceived notions about the book, but I was hopeful at best. That all being said my first sit with the book did not go that great. Maybe it was my mood at the time, but Libby Day was not making friends with me. As the story progressed though, I felt myself warming up to her and the story of how she got to be this thirty some year old woman that has been living in the shadow of her family's massacre since she was seven years old. Even sitting here now I don't believe that I am fully capable of feeling anything remotely close to how this whole rotten string of events could take its toll on a person. Libby's brother plays an extremely crucial part in the story and I could not help but think that, "Hey... That could have been me." This book being the "who dunnit" that it is, I don't want to give even the slightest bit of it away. But, I will tell you, in the words of my girlfriend, "This book is reeeaalllly good! You have to read it!". The mystery of Libby Day's family murderer will keep you guessing right up to the end and leave you thinking that all the pieces to this puzzle fell so nicely into place that you are sure that you should have figured this thing out nine or ten chapters ago. But that, I guess is why it is such a great novel that I will be definitely recommending to many many others. As always, Thank-you Ms. Flynn for a great story! I will be checking out your other books here in the very near future. Next up, Sharp Objects and it should be in my box any day now...

Review of The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie

BOOK DESCRIPTION FROM GOODREADS

The end is coming.

Logen Ninefingers might only have one more fight in him – but it’s going to be a big one. Battle rages across the North, the King of the Northmen still stands firm, and there’s only one man who can stop him. His oldest friend, and his oldest enemy: it’s time for the Bloody-Nine to come home.

With too many masters and too little time, Superior Glokta is fighting a different kind of war. A secret struggle in which no-one is safe, and no-one can be trusted. As his days with a sword are far behind him, it’s fortunate that he’s deadly with his remaining weapons: blackmail, threats, and torture.

Jezal dan Luthar has decided that winning glory is too painful an undertaking, and turned his back on soldering for a simple life with the woman he loves. But love can be painful too – and glory has a nasty habit of creeping up on a man when he least expects it.

The King of the Union lies on his deathbed, the peasants revolt, and the nobles scramble to steal his crown. No-one believes that the shadow of war is about to fall across the heart of the Union. Only the First of the Magi can save the world – but there are risks. There is no risk more terrible, than to break the First Law.

The First Law Trilogy is equal parts gruel, war, mayhem and a little bit of magic too but, not to much to take it over the top. Joe Abercrombie writes with a sort of unknown, unspoken knowledge of fighting, battle and the loss and victory that can come with it. What made this story so great (even on the second time through) is how familiar the characters were to me and how I can relate to them in the situations that they went through. Even the unforgiving, warped brilliant mind of Sand Dan Golkta intrigued me as though it would just be common place to act out the story as he did because of the hand he was dealt. Although, the hopeless romantic (blah, blah, blah)in me was anticipating Ferro walking back into Logen's life clear up till the end of the book, it fit well that she did not. Because this is how life is in all its cold unfairness. As Logen would say, "You have to be realistic about these things.". The Dogman was not at all the most wrote over character in the book but I think that he would be my favorite. He held the clearest head of them all, I think and his mutterings were pretty hilarious at times. In fact, I thought all the Northman for being the tough, rugged bunch that they were, were the most humorous. And on the other side of it, the seven Day battle at the fort on the top of the mountain was freakin' paramount! I could cram all those chapters together and read them over and over and over. With all that said, there are still plenty more characters in this story to love and hate. I know that I will pick these books up again as they are on my shelf of some of the best fantasy out there.

Review of Horns by Joe Hill

BOOK DESCRIPTION  FROM GOODREADS

Amazon Best Books of the Month, March 2010: Best known for his terrifying (really) debut novel, Heart-Shaped Box, and his famous dad, Joe Hill continues to make a name for himself with Horns, a dark, funny exploration of love, grief, and the nature of good and evil. Ignatius William Perrish wakes up bleary and confused after a night of drinking and "doing terrible things" to find he has grown horns. In addition to being horribly unsightly, these inflamed protuberances give Ig an equally ugly power--if he thinks hard enough, he can make people admit things (intimate, embarrassing, I-can't-believe-you-just-said-that details). This bizarre affliction is of particular use to Ig, who is still grieving over the murder of his childhood sweetheart (a grisly act the entire town, including his family, believes he committed). Horns is a wickedly fun read, and reveals Hill's uncanny knack for creating alluring characters and a riveting plot. Ig's attempts to track down the killer result in hilariously inappropriate admissions from the community, heartbreaking confessions from his own family, and of course, one hell of a showdown. --Daphne Durham

Wow! Joe Hill has knocked this one out of the park and then some. This novel, appropriately named Horns got its grip on me early on and did not let go till the very end. Ignatius Perrish and the rest of the cast were really fleshed out characters all with intense psyche that keeps you flipping the pages of each point of view just to see what they are going to do next. I am seriously awestruck with the places in my head that this book took me. The series of events that took place to show you that...moreWow! Joe Hill has knocked this one out of the park and then some. This novel, appropriately named Horns got its grip on me early on and did not let go till the very end. Ignatius Perrish and the rest of the cast were really fleshed out characters all with intense psyche that keeps you flipping the pages of each point of view just to see what they are going to do next. I am seriously awestruck with the places in my head that this book took me. The series of events that took place to show you that there is a devil inside all of us. Ig, an average guy and Merrin, his soul-mate travel a destiny fraught with chaos and disaster and of course, a love that is as deep as an ocean. Lee Tourneau, man, I hated this guy and was ready to take him out really early on. All the pop-culture references in this book make it really fun too and when I would read over one it would kind of put a smirk on my face and randomly blurt things out like, "heh! Nice!". The majority of this story for me was just as simple as the continuous struggle in all of us with good and evil and that paved a road for a great, great novel. But, what took it to the next level for me was that despite what Ig became in the end, he held onto the good inside him. The unfaltering love he felt for Merrin truly made me feel sympathy for the devil.

As a side note... I read Heart Shaped Box a few years ago although I do not have an actual review of it up on goodreads (yet). It was a really good novel as well and leads me to this: Anyone who knows who Joe Hill is, knows that stepping into any kind of writing would be a huge shoe with and even bigger shadow to fill. In fact, it makes me cringe to even bring it up because if I was Joe Hill, I would probably get very tired, very quickly whenever it was mentioned at all. But after just two novels he has shown me atleast that he writes really really well and I will continue to read his stuff with no other pretenses than that. Keep up the amazingly wonderful writing Mr. Hill. I like your shoes just fine.

Review of The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

BOOK DESCRIPTION FROM GOODREADS

Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he's on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian - leaving nothing behind him but bad songs, dead friends, and a lot of happy enemies.

Nobleman, dashing officer, and paragon of selfishness, Captain Jezal dan Luthar has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules.

Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box. But then Glokta hates everyone: cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time leaves little room for friendship. His latest trail of corpses may lead him right to the rotten heart of government, if he can stay alive long enough to follow it.

Enter the wizard, Bayaz. A bald old man with a terrible temper and a pathetic assistant, he could be the First of the Magi, he could be a spectacular fraud, but whatever he is, he's about to make the lives of Logen, Jezal, and Glotka a whole lot more difficult.

Murderous conspiracies rise to the surface, old scores are ready to be settled, and the line between hero and villain is sharp enough to draw blood. Unpredictable, compelling, wickedly funny, and packed with unforgettable characters, The Blade Itself is noir fantasy with a real cutting edge.

This is some of the best blood and battle type fantasy out there. But yet under the surface of the grusome stuff Abercrombie really brings out the heart of the characters. Makes them believable in their mannerisms and thought patterns. This is my second time through this series and that in itself should say something for the Trilogy. I rarely pick up series twice.

Review of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

BOOK DESCRIPTION FROM GOODREADS

 From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans, comes an unforgettable edge-of-your-seat mystery that is at once heartbreakingly tender and morally courageous about what it means to be human.

Hailsham seems like a pleasant English boarding school, far from the influences of the city. Its students are well tended and supported, trained in art and literature, and become just the sort of people the world wants them to be. But, curiously, they are taught nothing of the outside world and are allowed little contact with it.

Within the grounds of Hailsham, Kathy grows from schoolgirl to young woman, but it’s only when she and her friends Ruth and Tommy leave the safe grounds of the school (as they always knew they would) that they realize the full truth of what Hailsham is.

Never Let Me Go breaks through the boundaries of the literary novel. It is a gripping mystery, a beautiful love story, and also a scathing critique of human arrogance and a moral examination of how we treat the vulnerable and different in our society. In exploring the themes of memory and the impact of the past, Ishiguro takes on the idea of a possible future to create his most moving and powerful book to date.

I decided that I would read this book after seeing the movie trailer on the tele a few months back. The title was put in my "to read" list and on my Amazon wish list and I actually had forgotten about it till a few days after Christmas this title was put up on Amazon as a $5.00 Kindle mark-down so I thought I would pick it up. Well, the DVD will soon be coming out so I thought it might be a good time to knock it out. As with most books in this genre / age group / I don't even know how ...moreI decided that I would read this book after seeing the movie trailer on the tele a few months back. The title was put in my "to read" list and on my Amazon wish list and I actually had forgotten about it till a few days after Christmas this title was put up on Amazon as a $5.00 Kindle mark-down so I thought I would pick it up. Well, the DVD will soon be coming out so I thought it might be a good time to knock it out. As with most books in this genre / age group / I don't even know how to categorize something like this after I have read it type reads, I went into it not knowing what to expect. I have got to be honest in the fact that I really struggled getting acquainted and settled in to this book. In the beginning, I would read a little, put it down, pick it up, read a little, put it down, so on and so forth, till finally I was like, "where possibly can the author go with this storyline?" It was at that point I put everything else aside and told myself that I was either going to sit down and finish it or I was going to forget it. Generally speaking, I really have a hard time giving up and not finishing something. So, sitting down and finishing it is what happened and I must say that I am really glad that I did. Because an all in one finish like that is probably what made me see this book for the great read that it is. I doubt that I would have the same opinion if I had continued with the start/stop method I was doing. All that being said, I feel as though I was in total check of my feelings on this read clear up to the end and I had put it down. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. It felt to me that it was all leading up to this great thing in the end but, then in the end, there was nothing... I really can't even pin point exactly what it was that made me feel all this but, there it was. I had a deep down longing feeling for something... more. I was angry, I was sad, I was confused, torn, depressed, I honestly felt... Hollow. I desperately wanted all Carers/donors to rebel against the establishment. I kept hoping for Tommy, Kathy or even Ruth (despite not liking one thing about her the entire length of the novel) would just get this notion to, I don't know... walk away, start anew. Would this even been possible for everything they have been taught or put through. How can this even be considered as a possible existence? As someone who has lived as average as a life (a pretty good life actually) thus far, I keep thinking in the back of my mind that, "this... couldn't reeeeeaalllly happen... Could it?" In the end, I don't know if I have an answer or more distinctly, I don't want to know an answer. Hopefully, that won't be construed as condoning this from being stood for. I just couldn't turn my head as the world has in this book. I would probably be hiding deserters in my basement or something. I guess that pretty much covers my written thoughts for the time being about this novel. I am sure it will be thought of often and any book that is going to stir these types of feelings in me is always going to be thought of a something pretty special. I may not have needed the negative tones this put in my head but it definitely aroused some pretty strong emotions. Thank-you Mr. Ishiguro for a wonderful novel.

Review of Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel

BOOK DESCRIPTION FROM GOODREADS

"Lenah Beaudonte is, in many ways, your average teen: the new girl at Wickham Boarding School, she struggles to fit in enough to survive and stand out enough to catch the eye of the golden-boy lacrosse captain. But Lenah also just happens to be a recovering five-hundred-year-old vampire queen. After centuries of terrorizing Europe, Lenah is able to realize the dream all vampires have -- to be human again. After performing a dangerous ritual to restore her humanity, Lenah entered a century-long hibernation, leaving behind the wicked coven she ruled over and the eternal love who has helped grant her deep-seated wish.

Until, that is, Lenah draws her first natural breath in centuries at Wickham and rediscovers a human life that bears little resemblance to the one she had known. As if suddenly becoming a teenager weren’t stressful enough, each passing hour brings Lenah closer to the moment when her abandoned coven will open the crypt where she should be sleeping and find her gone. As her borrowed days slip by, Lenah resolves to live her newfound life as fully as she can. But, to do so, she must answer ominous questions: Can an ex-vampire survive in an alien time and place? What can Lenah do to protect her new friends from the bloodthirsty menace about to descend upon them? And how is she ever going to pass her biology midterm?"

I have to admit that I was skeptical about actually reading this book. The premise, centuries old vampire becomes human and is thrown headlong into ordinary human (high-school nonetheless) life. I could not have been more wrong in all my preconcieved notions about how this book would turn out. And for that I am very happy with the outcome of this first installation of a proposed trilogy. Quite honestly, the end of the book came all too quickly for me. Although, a very climatic ending it did not seem rushed which makes me nod to the author for her ability to tell her story so well. The story of Lenah Beaudonte is told so well in fact that I could not help wanting to actually meet her while I was reading it. A want for something like this to happen to myself. Sadly, I was never the Justin Enos of my school, but I could relate to Tony very well. Even more sad I guess, thinking how Tony ends up... But Lenah, beautiful Lenah. This story is hers and what a wonderful one it is so far. I very much look forward to the continuation of the Vampire Queen Trilogy. A lot of questions come to mind for the remainder of the series. Answers about Suleen (what a mysterious character he is) and Rhode, the long ago knight who I don't really think ever forgot what real love was throughout his vampire existence. That is what lies at the heart of this story and if I may use the authors very own words, "It is the intent that matters the most." Thank-you for another great story.

Review of Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente

BOOK DESCRIPTION FROM GOODREADS
"Between life and death, dreaming and waking, at the train stop beyond the end of the world is the city of Palimpsest. To get there is a miracle, a mystery, a gift, and a curse—a voyage permitted only to those who’ve always believed there’s another world than the one that meets the eye. Those fated to make the passage are marked forever by a map of that wondrous city tattooed on their flesh after a single orgasmic night. To this kingdom of ghost trains, lion-priests, living kanji, and cream-filled canals come four travelers: Oleg, a New York locksmith; the beekeeper November; Ludovico, a binder of rare books; and a young Japanese woman named Sei. They’ve each lost something important—a wife, a lover, a sister, a direction in life—and what they will find in Palimpsest is more than they could ever imagine."

This book is a secret, a secret that I am both ashamed and proud to reveal. From a readers standpoint it is so rare when the pages of a book will come along and wrap you up in them. Warm you with their heaviness, care for you like a child, leave you with want and worry when you are not with them. This book took me on a journey within myself that I did not know that I was ready or willing for that matter, to take. But take it I did and with it came the strongest of currents.

Admittedly I am a slow reader. But as I read the first couple pages of Palimpsest, I found myself repeating paragraphs over and over and over again. Letting my mouth taste them, savor them till I felt as if I had a five course meal. I feel as though I should be hiding this book now that its words are inside of me. As if the book itself has become its own city lost to the world and should only be graced by the eyes of few. Bury this book so that it may become an archaeologist’s find a hundred thousand years from now, so that the people of that time can share something of true beauty came when everything else seemed so peril less and without hope.

Beware; this book has a mask, a mask with horns and teeth. With this mask the unbelievers of imagination and the fantastical will surely be cast out of its realms forever never to be allowed admittance again. I write these words to pay tribute to the author, for she opened herself up and bled her dreams into these pages, bled an artwork onto a canvas that will be gazed at often on my shelves of so many places. It is one of the great pleasures of life to be able to hold a book in your hands after reading it, run your hands down its spine and feel its magic seeping into you.

The Characters in this book are well fleshed out. Their hearts and minds are sewn plainly onto their sleeves and this was also why the story was so enticing to me. I felt a little of myself in each one of the four that the book revolves around. Each one of them suffering inside, all desperate in their afflictions and destined to know one another. These are people that by the end of the book you could say that you knew well. The feeling comes to my mind, like when you are walking down the street and you pass someone, to some just a random stranger, but then your eyes meet and lock and in that very brief moment it is like you know that person, know their likes and dislikes, feel everything that pains them and what makes them smile. It’s the connection that nobody talks about but we yearn for like the feeling you get when you have been away for what seems a lifetime and finally walk through your own front door. Peace, a sighing relief, a built up tension that is finally released.

Like the tattoos of the people immigrating to Palimpsest, I will be forever marked by reading this wonderful work. I will seek deeper meaning in all because of it. I will see it on my shelf and smile to know that there are some and maybe only a select few that really feel things, read and write words that have meaning, deep meaning. Words that dispel any thought that magic in this world is lost. Thank –you.

Review of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

BOOK DESCRIPTION FROM GOODREADS
"After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own."

Neil Gaiman sits very high up on the list of my very favorite authors. Like a modern day Beethoven, he writes complex but surprisingly simple lyrical masterpieces that flow from the pages through to your mind like a speeding locomotive. This wonderful little treat is the same and was exactly what I was looking for when I finished it. Bod will definitely go down in the history of my written friends as one of the greats. I don't know how someone can make life growing up in a graveyard sound even r...moreNeil Gaiman sits very high up on the list of my very favorite authors. Like a modern day Beethoven, he writes complex but surprisingly simple lyrical masterpieces that flow from the pages through to your mind like a speeding locomotive. This wonderful little treat is the same and was exactly what I was looking for when I finished it. Bod will definitely go down in the history of my written friends as one of the greats. I don't know how someone can make life growing up in a graveyard sound even remotely appealing, but I find myself envying Nobody Owens without any reproach. I don't want to give any other details away because the story is perfect in every way and I fear anything else other than, "It's freakin' great. Go buy a copy and revel in it!" will only diminish the book for someone else. Besides form your own opinion that is why you have a brain, right? The only other thing that I would like to say about this is that I truly hope that it makes it's way to the picture studios. I loved, loved, loved Coraline and this (If N. Gaiman has any say in it) will be, no doubt... awesome.

Review of Storm Front by Jim Butcher

BOOK DESCRIPTION FROM GOODREADS
"HARRY DRESDEN — WIZARD
Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment.

Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he's the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the "everyday" world is actually full of strange and magical things—and most don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a—well, whatever.

There's just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get interesting.

Magic. It can get a guy killed."

Harry Dresden is one of my favorite characters plain and simple. Harry is just a character that I can relate to on a life experience level. I think that his attitude is what keeps me hooked throughout the series. He knows the talent that he posseses but he does not seem to get a big head about it. Despite all the things that are trying to bring him down he stays pretty positive and most of the time really hilarious! The whole magic and wizard P.I. give the story a little more than just your everyday murder mystery a twist that I need in books to keep me interested. Storm Front lays the ground work for the series in many ways but does not drag you out with a whole lot of back story. The one thing that I like about Butcher's writing is that he gets to the point with his characters and lets you get a real good opinion of them with just Harry's thoughts of them and some really fantastic dialogue.

I don't follow Jim Butchers web page or blog too often but I heard somewhere around the hinternet that the series will be 20 books long which is just fine by me as I have yet to be disappointed. I think that I will wait till it is finished though to see the t.v. series. I have not watched it yet and have thought about buying it, but all too often I am really disappointed in the whole book to t.v. series adaptation. It's amazing how someone else's view of how you perceive these fictional characters can just totally ruin a good story for you! Don't ya think?

Review of The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett

BOOK DESCRIPTION FROM GOODREADS

The sun is setting on humanity. The night now belongs to voracious demons that arise as the sun sets, preying upon a dwindling population forced to cower behind ancient and half-forgotten symbols of power. These wards alone can keep the demons at bay, but legends tell of a Deliverer: a general—some would say prophet—who once bound all mankind into a single force that defeated the demons. Those times, if they ever existed, are long past. The demons are back, and the return of the Deliverer is just another myth . . . or is it?
Out of the desert rides Ahmann Jardir, who has forged the warlike desert tribes of Krasia into a demon-killing army. He has proclaimed himself Shar’Dama Ka, the Deliverer, and he carries ancient weapons—a spear and a crown—that give credence to his claim. Sworn to follow the path of the first Deliverer, he has come north to bring the scattered city-states of the green lands together in a war against demonkind—whether they like it or not.
    But the northerners claim their own Deliverer. His name was Arlen, but all know him now as the Warded Man: a dark, forbidding figure whose skin is tattooed with wards so powerful they make him a match for any demon. The Warded Man denies that he is the Deliverer, but his actions speak louder than words, for he teaches men and women to face their fears and stand fast against the creatures that have tormented them for centuries.

Once the Shar’Dama Ka and the Warded Man were friends, brothers in arms. Now they are fierce adversaries. Caught between them are Renna, a young woman pushed to the edge of human endurance; Leesha, a proud and beautiful healer whose skill in warding surpasses that of the Warded Man himself; and Rojer, a traveling fiddler whose uncanny music can soothe the demons—or stir them into such frenzy that they attack one another.  
    Yet as old allegiances are tested and fresh alliances forged, all are blissfully unaware of the appearance of a new breed of demon, more intelligent—and deadly—than any that have come before.

Peter Brett has done it once again. I think someone else pointed out in their review that there is only so long you can prolong the inevitable end of a book. Going back and rereading chapters just to be sure you did not miss anything. I managed to stretch this one out for about a month. I was blown away with The Warded Man and am almost speechless with The Desert Spear... Almost. The last sentence of the book hit me like a brick in the face! Thinking about the story after I was finished I should have seen it coming but I did not. The possibilities for The Daylight War are going to drive me up a wall (hopefully a well warded one) till it is in my hands!

Review of The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

BOOK DESCRIPTION FROM GOODREADS

"When we first meet 14-year-old Susie Salmon, she is already in Heaven. This was before milk carton photos and public service announcements, she tells us; back in 1973, when Susie mysteriously disappeared, people still believed these things didn't happen. In the sweet, untroubled voice of a precocious teenage girl, Susie relates the awful events of her death and her own adjustment to the strange new place she finds herself. It looks a lot like her school playground, with the good kind of swing sets. With love, longing, and a growing understanding, Susie watches her family as they cope with their grief, her father embarks on a search for the killer, her sister undertakes a feat of amazing daring, her little brother builds a fort in her honor and begin the difficult process of healing. In the hands of a brilliant novelist, this story of seemingly unbearable tragedy is transformed into a suspenseful and touching story about family, memory, love, Heaven, and living."

This book for me was... A pleasant reminder of why I typically stray and stay in the science fiction and fantasy section of a book store. That is not to say that I did not like it. On the contrary, this story sat in me like a heavy stone weighing me down for its entirety and as I turned the last page and sat the book down it was like all at once that weight was lifted. So, in that way the story did what we all want stories to do and that is take us away. This is just a place that I typically don't like to go. The words and thoughts of Susie Salmon caused me to tear up and break down my own thoughts on how I viewed something that I don't often think about, but happens everyday all around us. Death. This story shows you only one possible path of destruction a horrible incident like what happened to the Salmon Family. But the grief each individual family member felt was completely different from the other. It's like the the book pulls you with the characters turbulent emotions in 8 directions at once. I especially liked the parts of the book about Susie's sister Lindsey. She would be one of those people I would consider being the bravest sort of person. Having a daughter of my own made Jack Salmon's part in the story the hardest to get through. Whether you say it is slow or fast (I personally, think that I read to slow) the roughly figured 5 hours it took me to read this plus the in between time that I was not reading but yet thinking about it, was far to long to be focused on one dreaded thing... This story or a very close version of it... could be mine. I have no sympathy in my being for the people of this world like Mr. Harvey. And I walk away from this book with new found rage and personal hate for his kind.

As always, thanks to the author Alice Sebold for providing me with some of the greatest writing entertainment!

Review of The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett

BOOK DESCRIPTION FROM GOODREADS

As darkness falls after sunset, the corelings rise—demons who possess supernatural powers and burn with a consuming hatred of humanity. For hundreds of years the demons have terrorized the night, slowly culling the human herd that shelters behind magical wards—symbols of power whose origins are lost in myth and whose protection is terrifyingly fragile. It was not always this way. Once, men and women battled the corelings on equal terms, but those days are gone. Night by night the demons grow stronger, while human numbers dwindle under their relentless assault. Now, with hope for the future fading, three young survivors of vicious demon attacks will dare the impossible, stepping beyond the crumbling safety of the wards to risk everything in a desperate quest to regain the secrets of the past. Together, they will stand against the night.

I am in aww. In the pages of this book are the words of magic, heroes and legend. This is the type of reading that I pine for! Heedlessly, consuming my Sunday afternoon, it's as if the pages themselves were the very talons of the demons written within come to life before my very eyes to sink into my skin and pull me in. Characters so well written that you feel like they are closer to you than some family members. Morally correct individuals that stand up in the face of the evils that are slowly...moreI am in aww. In the pages of this book are the words of magic, heroes and legend. This is the type of reading that I pine for! Heedlessly, consuming my Sunday afternoon, it's as if the pages themselves were the very talons of the demons written within come to life before my very eyes to sink into my skin and pull me in. Characters so well written that you feel like they are closer to you than some family members. Morally correct individuals that stand up in the face of the evils that are slowly consuming them and battle for the same kind of freedom that back on earth more than a few could do well in learning from them. For a long time to come, this book will surely be at the top of my recommened list for anyone that asks. Luckily, I don't have too long to wait before book 2!!!