Book Review -- Soulstice

Title: Soulstice
Author: Simon Holt
Genre: YA suspense, horror
Pages: 266
Published: 2009
Opening Lines; "I kept my eyes closed, smelling the buttered popcorn and cotton candy, hearing the ding-dings of the Midway games, feeling the warm sun on my skin. I breathed in and opened my eyes, smiling in readiness for the fun day ahead."

"The Vours: Evil, demonic beings that in habit human bodies on Sorry Night, the darkest hours of the winter solstice.

"Six months . . .

"Since Reggie first discovered the existence of the Vours in a tattered journal. Since her little brother, Henry, began to mutilate animals and turn against her. Since she learned to overcome her fear and destroyed a Vour to save Henry.

"Now as the summer solstice approaches, the Vours still haunt Reggie, but only in dreams -- until one night, when an unexpected visitor turns her nightmares into reality."

~ Jacket copy

Thoughts: This book picks up six months after the episode on the pond with Eben, Henry, Reggie, Aaron, and Quinn. After the disappearance of Quinn, Reggie's high school is plagued by police trying to determine what happened to the boy. When a friend is arrested in connection to the disappearance and Henry accosts his bully, Reggie realizes that the Vours are not done with her. In fact, it seems as though they are just beginning.

It is hard to say anything about this book without giving anything away. The story is detailed, completely interwoven, and intense! To be honest, I enjoyed The Devouring much better. However, to be fair, the first one was the build up with a lot of horror and nail-biting scenarios.

In some ways, this series reminds me of a less mature Stephen King. There is building sense of horror, of something wrong. The audience knows the Vours are out there, but they are just out of reach. There is a tension in the book that continues to build with every page.

Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Our Current Together Read: The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
Current Pages: 10670
Horror/Urban Fantasy Challenge: 16/24
Current Progress:

31/50 books

Giveaway Ends

As you know, the giveaway ended last night. At the moment, I am working on figuring out the winner using random.org. The winner will be announce later this afternoon! If I need to purchase the material to make your beanie, I'll let you know. Keep an eye out for your name!

Book Review -- The Monstrumologist

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Title: The Monstrumologist
Author: Rick Yancey
Genre: YA, Victorian horror
Pages: Oversize paperback, 434
Published: 2009
Opening Lines: "The director of facilities was a small man with ruddy cheeks and dark, deep-set eyes, his prominent forehead framed by an explosion of cottony white hair, thinning as it marched toward the back of his head, cowlicks rising from the mass like waves moving toward the slightly pink island of his bald spot."

"Will Henry is the orphan apprentice of a doctor with an unusual specialty: monstrumology, the study of monsters. When a midnight visitor brings them the body of a young girl entwined with the corpse of an Anthropophagus, it is the start of the most mysterious case of Will Henry's life. Anthropophagi are headless monsters whose razor-sharp teeth are in their stomachs -- and they are supposed to be extinct in this part of the world. Now Will and the monstrumologist are in a race against time to put a stop to the plague of monsters before they kill again."

~ Jacket copy

Thoughts: Due to a misunderstanding, I read the sequel, Curse of the Wendigo, before this book. I felt that the author did a good job explaining things and, therefore, didn't feel lost without reading The Monstrumologist.

This book introduces the audience to the orphan, Will Henry. After years of services to the monstrumologist, his father dies with his mother in a fire. Whether out of some feelings of loyalty to his previous apprentice or care for the boy, the doctor takes Will into his home and makes him his new apprentice saying, "His services are indispensable to me." Because of his own issues with his father, his dedication to his trade, and extreme secretive nature, the doctor is very closed off from Will. The child is forced to grow up fast and face situations that are not deemed satisfactory for a child to encounter. Throughout the book, Will Henry struggles with these situations, his reactions to them, and the doctor's distance.

I felt that this book was a good introduction to the characters. In some ways, I understand Will Henry and the doctor better; however, I still feel as though I didn't lose anything reading the sequel first. In comparison, this book was much harder to get into. Knowing how much I enjoyed the sequel, I really pushed myself into the story. It was interesting and engaging, but it lacked something that the later book has. Some of this, of course, could be due to the fact that it is an introduction.

I would recommend this book. It was a good read. However, there is a lot of detail and it can be gruesome at many points. The descriptions of Verner in the sanitarium, the Anthropophagi encounters, etc. are very vivid and graphic. However, it makes everything feel real. Also, it makes the reader far more sympathetic to Will Henry and his unusual position.

Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Currently: The Sight by David Clement-Davies
Current Pages: 10404
Current Progress:

30/50 books

Teaser Tuesday

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the Title & Author, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's my teaser:

"The head is the most coveted prize. The first to reach her seizes it and wrenches it from her neck, and her still-beating heart flushes her blood through that makeshift orifice; a steaming geyser shoots into the air and paints crimson their teeming alabaster bodies."

~ The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey, 140

Follow Friday & Blogger Hop

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Follow My Book Blog Friday is hosted by Rachel at Parajunkee's View. The point is to follow as many book blog as you can and make new friends! As part of the adventure, she gives a weekly question. Here is this week's question:

Keeping with the dystopian and apocalypse theme that seems to be running rampant on parajunkee.com, I have one very hard question for you: If you were stocking your bomb shelter, what books would you HAVE to include if you only had space for ten?

I stand by the fact that this question is extremely unfair That being said, here is my list:

• The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
• The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker
• Beowulf
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• Njal's Saga
• Norton Anthology of Shakespeare
• Riverside Chaucer
• various Norton Anthologies (2)
  

"Summer is coming quickly - what 2011 summer release are you are most looking forward to?"

Honestly, I have so many books in my TBR pile that I'm intentionally not looking too closely at the new releases this summer. However, I know that will change

Book Review -- Matched

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Title: Matched
Author: Ally Condie
Genre: YA, romance
Pages: Hardback, 366
Published: 2010
Opening Lines: "Now that that I've found the way to fly, which direction should I go into the night? My wings aren't white or feathered; they're green, made of green silk, which shudders in the wind and bends when I move -- first in a circle, then in a line, finally in a shade of my own invention."

"In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

"Cassia has always trust their choices. It's hardly any price to pay to a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one . . . until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path no one else has ever dared follow -- between perfection and passion."

~ Jacket copy

Thoughts: I've read a lot of reviews that say this book is nothing but a poor copy of The Giver. Sadly, I have not read that book. However, that makes me already poor estimation of this book drop even more.

Cassia lives in a world where every decision is made for you. At the beginning of the book, she sees absolutely nothing wrong with this. It isn't until another picture shows up on her Match screen and then the death of her grandfather. This storyline has a lot of promise. I felt that Condie could have taken it a lot of different places and really fleshed it out. However, she just let the ball drop.

This book, in one word, was boring. The measly amount of action takes place within 10-20 pages from the end of the book. Granted, there are a few "tense" moments, but they are quickly overshadowed or glossed over. When Xander alludes to something BIG happening in their neighborhood, he just lets the ball drop and won't tell Cassia. There are many, many missed opportunities like this throughout the book. She never takes them, never fleshes them out. I feel that she really didn't care too much for the story.

I've read a lot of reviews that call this a dystopian novel. I have to disagree. This is purely romance. While it is set in a seemingly dystopian society, the book itself is not. Cassia laments the choices that are made for them, the threat of Infractions, the Aberration status, etc.; however, it lacks something to be truly dystopian.

I will read the next book, but I'm not holding my breath. This book got a lot of hype, but it just wasn't worth it. If people are looking for a dystopian novel that challenges societal constraints, try something like 1984 or The Giver. Those, at least, are well written.

Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆
Currently: Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
Current Pages: 9970
Current Progress:

29/50 books

Did You Say a GIVEAWAY?!

A mile marker has been hit. Sinnful Books has just reached it's 50th follower! I've had this simmering in the back of my mind for a few months now and finally the time has come to share it with all of you. There is going to be a GIVEAWAY!

When I'm not reading or playing video games, my major hobby is crocheting.The giveaway will be for one of my beanies. You'll have a choice of either a regular beanie, a panda, or a neko beanie. If you choose the neko beanie, I will make it to your specifications.

Here are examples of the different beanies:






A list of colour options for the neko beanie. Pick two -- one for main colour and one for inner ear.

Since I will need to find colours (possibly order them) and make the beanie, the shipping will take longer. Once the winner is chosen, I will contact them about whether the beanie is already in stock or needs to be made, if the colours can be purchased locally or need to be ordered, etc. At that point, I will try to make an estimate on the amount of time it will take to get the prize in the mail. If the winner chooses a panda or regular beanie, it will follow the Giveaway Policy.

If you are interested, take a look at Giveaway Policy and fill out the form below.

NOTE: Please choose whether you want a regular, panda, or neko beanie. If you mark neko, please include two different colour choices.



Share this with as many people as you want!

The winners will be chosen with http://www.random.org/ on Sunday, May 8, after 5PM MST, and the winner will have seven (7) days to get back to me or another winner will be chosen.