Book Review - Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children - Trilogy
Ransom Riggs

YA/Adult/WW2/fantasy/
Easy Read

Soon to be a major motion picture

Miss Peregines Home for Peculiar Children
7 Stars
348 Pages

Abe Portman is a master storyteller, tales of the children he grew up with (who had super strength, could fly, were invisible and other such amazing talents) living in an enchanted school house during WW2. Abe himself left the home to battle monsters and save his people. Jacob Portman believed every word his grandfather spoke was gospel, until he grew up and realized the story's where really a retelling of the Holocaust. Or was it? Grandpa Abe is killed by wild dogs in front of Jacob, the fact that Jacob saw a monster right out of his grandfathers stories was just a stress reaction of course. In an attempt to come to terms with his grandfathers death and what he saw, Jacob retraces his grandfathers life travelling to the island of the "enchanted" school house hoping to meet someone who may have known Abe as a child, literally thrown for a loop Jacob finds his grandfathers long lost friends and much more than he bargained for.

I first read Miss Peregrines when it was first released, finding it in the airport and reading it all in one sitting while I flew. I always find with a reread that I get so much more out of the book than just the story, because I am not rushing to know what happens next. This is yet another novel that is between YA and adult, fast passed but not what I would deem to be action packed. I found all the characters to be strikingly real. This is one of those novels where, there is so many overlapping layers, and so many different ways to consider it and interpret it. The pictures add so much to this novel as well, putting faces to names, I look at it as the book came from the pictures vs the pictures trying to fit the book.


PS: I have now read this first novel, four times, maybe five and love it and wanted to continue the series and even started Hollow City, but I just can't get into it or its the wrong time or when I am in the mood I don't have the books on hand.
Super frustrated by this.

Totally recommend this book and the series

PPS : I wrote this review in early 2016 maybe in 2015 and its been sitting as a draft until now. So like 2 years because its 2017. I figured I had better just publish it already, I was going to just publish one post for the whole trilogy but... obviously not... so yeah enjoy!

Book Review - Misery

Misery

Stephen King

Stars 8
Pages 369
Med Reading Level
Horror/ Thriller / Psychological / Dark

Being a Stephen King this has been on my TBR for a while, I have watched bits and pieces of the movie and mostly knew what the novel was about. It just didn't seem very appealing, like it was going to be one of Kings incredible character novels. That would lack on the action, too much buildup and setting, maybe a little bit anticlimactic

I was really wrong, this was an amazing book, probably one of my fastest King reads. I just couldn't put the book down, read it all in one day. There was so much action, and just a perfect balance of "this can't be happening" and "this is so real". That King added a book into the middle of this book, gave a glimpse that he could write whatever he wanted. If he wanted to write sterotype, super mainstream popular novels I'm sure he could. If he wanted to write YA I'm convinced he could and he would dominate in every field.
I am just happy he chose to stick with his own visions instead of fallowing advice I am sure he got from publishers at some point.

Series Review - The Lunar Chonicles

The Lunar Chronicles

Marissa Meyer

9 stars
Young Adult/ Futuristic/ Fairytale/ Retelling/ Post-Apocalyptic/ Sci-Fi
Easy Read
All Ages

I was incredibly reluctant to start this series, I missed some of the initial enthusiasm when it was released/ first discovered and I was put off reading the novels because of all the hype. My expectations for these books where astronomical. I wanted to feel the same way about these books as I feel about Harry Potter (which can never be read too many times over, and should be read by everyone). I was not disappointed!

None of these books where what I had expected, they where true to the originals - which does make the stories outcome predictable so I have not included that in my ratings - but I still found that the story's stand on their only as something totally unique as well.

I tried to avoid Spoilers in the reviews bellow, as I review each story however there are some details that escaped.

Book Review - Darkest Minds

The Darkest Minds
Alexandra Bracken

6 stars
Ya / Dystopia / Action / Mystery

This is the first novel in this trilogy, and I had heard amazing things about these novels.

Welcome to the USA, you cannot enter or leave the country. It has become a dictatorship instead of a democracy and the adults live in fear of the children.
All the children in the new generation where born with a mysterious x gene, there are five different classifications ordered least to most dangerous : Green, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Red. All of the children were put into government established camps, which are more like prisons.
Ruby lives at Thurmond camp from the day she turns 10 and while she has been classified a Green, she has a secret. Ruby is an Orange and she is terrified of her own powers. Escaping camp with the help of the government militia group known as the Children's League, is the beginning of her long journey of discovery.

I have just not been in a YA kind of headspace lately, so my opinion of this novel might flex a little with time. Overall I enjoyed this read, it had a few YA cliche pitfalls and hangups but the writing was good. I really liked the setting, how they explained the characters, the concept. The reason why the writing was just good and not great is : there are just too many unanswered questions. What caused the mutation? was it a gene? why the sudden onset, where did "it" come from? When exactly is all this taking place? Unfortunately not being given all the information and slowly finding out about the Colours piece by piece made the novel more confusing than mysterious.

Looking forward to seeing where this trilogy goes but not in a rush to get through them.

Book Review - Darkest Minds

The Darkest Minds
Alexandra Bracken

6 stars
Ya / Dystopia / Action / Mystery

This is the first novel in this trilogy, and I had heard amazing things about these novels.

Welcome to the USA, you cannot enter or leave the country. It has become a dictatorship instead of a democracy and the adults live in fear of the children.
All the children in the new generation where born with a mysterious x gene, there are five different classifications ordered least to most dangerous : Green, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Red. All of the children were put into government established camps, which are more like prisons.
Ruby lives at Thurmond camp from the day she turns 10 and while she has been classified a Green, she has a secret. Ruby is an Orange and she is terrified of her own powers. Escaping camp with the help of the government militia group known as the Children's League, is the beginning of her long journey of discovery.

I have just not been in a YA kind of headspace lately, so my opinion of this novel might flex a little with time. Overall I enjoyed this read, it had a few YA cliche pitfalls and hangups but the writing was good. I really liked the setting, how they explained the characters, the concept. The reason why the writing was just good and not great is : there are just too many unanswered questions. What caused the mutation? was it a gene? why the sudden onset, where did "it" come from? When exactly is all this taking place? Unfortunately not being given all the information and slowly finding out about the Colours piece by piece made the novel more confusing than mysterious.

Looking forward to seeing where this trilogy goes but not in a rush to get through them.

Book Review - Right to Life

Right to Life
Jack Ketchum

7 Stars
158 pages
Thriller / Horror / Torture / R Rated /

Sara is pregnant with her married lover's child, on her way to the abortion clinic she is kidnapped by a deranged couple. Kath is unable to have a child of her own, a baby the solution to her unhappy marriage. A child to fill the void, besides Sara didn't want the baby anyways. For Stephen she is a dream come true, a slave to his every whim, a person without rights at his mercy.
In 6 months Sara will give birth to her child, these monstrous people will keep her beautiful baby and what will happen to her? She will have served her purpose and be entirely expendable. Sara must escape if she wants to live.

This was a thrilling read, an episode of Criminal Minds put to paper! For such a short story it had lots of detail and character development. Completely unbelievable and totally realistic. Recommended read for people who like short stories.

If you liked this you might also like : 

Book Review - Watership Down

Watership Down

Richard Adams

6 stars
Fiction / New Classic / Movie / Children's book /
Medium Level Read
481 Pages

*Listened to this on Audiobook

The rabbits of Sandalwood Warren live in peace. One of the young bucks, Fiver, is psychic. He has a terrible vision of destruction coming to the Warren, most of the rabbits choose to stay but a small party including Fivers older brother Hazel, choose to leave in search of the Watership Down; the ideal place to start a warren.

This has been on my TBR list for years; I picked up the book several times and just couldn't get into the novel. I decided to give the audiobook a go, and finally I got through it.
The story is simple but beautiful, a novel worth reading, something I will one day read to my kids, the story has lots of great morals, and lessons.

Series Review - Divergent

The bookworms archenemy ; the popular books you HAVE to read, that you know are SO over hyped and media inflated (especially when there are movies involved), that you want to read but don't at the same time. Then you read the darn thing and its only OK. It's the OK that I really have a problem with, I am very rarely in the "grey area" with novels, I am a love it or hate it kind of person. All of the YA trilogies lately have been falling in the grey area and its driving me crazy.

Divergent Trilogy

Veronica Roth

Dystopian/ YA
Easy Read

Divergent
5 stars

Introducing our setting, five factions based on the five evils that cause war. Abegnation that believe it is selfishness, Erudite that believe it is ignorance, Dauntless that believe it is cowardice, ect. Amity and Candor are the other two factions. Four factions live together in a  city, Amity the fifth lives just outside the fence. The factions do not interact with each other on base levels, they do not work together, go to school together, or get married outside of their own faction. When the teens of the city turn 16 they take an aptitude test and then there is a choosing ceremony, each person is born into a faction, the choosing ceremony is the only time when a person can decide to change factions. Hence the name during the choosing ceremony each person will choose what Faction they want to devote their lives to *the Factionless also live within the city, they are essentially the homeless. To be Factionless is considered a fate worse than death.
Tris is our main character, she was born Abegnation but her aptitude test is inconclusive which makes her Divergent (she could join Dauntless, Erudite or Abegnation equally). Divergence is dangerous, although the majority people don't know of its existence and those who do don't know why it is dangerous. Tris becomes Dauntless where she meets Four who has secrets of his own... and suddenly the world as they know it begins to unravel at the seams.

I don't have much to say about this book, its a good read, its not original, there are movies. Its a dystopian YA.

BEWARE SPOILERS!!!

Wrap Up - September, October, November 2015

This list is pitifully small, I have not picked up very many new novels, although I did do quite a bit of rereading lately.

September

Off Spring, Jack Ketchum

October

Daddy's Little Girl, Tee Morris

The Doll, JC Martin

November

The Woman, Jack Ketchum

Divergent, Veronica Roth

Insurgent, Veronica Roth

ReRead's

Under the Dome, Stephen King

The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning, Jimmy Palmiotti

 The Doorkeepers, Graham Masterton

I have also started quite a few novels, with this reading block I haven't really been forcing myself to continue anything so I have a long list of partials right now.

Darkest Minds, Alexandra Bracken

The Stand, Stephen King

The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien

Watership Down, Richard Adams

Series Review - Dead River Trilogy

Dead River Trilogy

Jack Ketchum

SPOILERS !!!

7 Stars
Horror / Thriller / Cannibal / Shocker / Realism /
Easy Reads

Off Season
9 stars

Ketchum balances the impossible with the believable, the realism of the setting and the situation makes you want to lean towards the improbable. That a family of nomadic cannibals roaming the hills and coastlines between Canada and the USA, created out of the necessity to survive, could exist. Although there are a few notes that tipped the story back into fiction.

Needless to say I loved this book, its a definite recommendation for anyone who likes horror. It is an easy, quick, draw-you-in action-packed read. Lots of blood, guts and gore in revolting detail.
\There are two versions of this novel, the original and the uncut. I have read both and as with most things the uncut is much more to my taste. The "original" was modified to appeal to mass market more so than a horror fan, suggested for those faint of heart types.

Off Spring
7 stars

This kicks off years after Off Season. In a world where most sequels have taken to picking up where the last sentence of the first booked left off this is a welcome change. The Family, destroyed in the final pages of Off Season have returned. They are the new generation; the Woman, First Stolen, Second Stolen and their offspring. A couple of mothers fight for their lives and lives of their children as they literally watch other family and friends get eaten alive.

This book did not live up to its predecessor, the characters, the setting, the story is all brilliant. The downfall was lots of repetition from Off Season. Definatly still something I would recommend, its good just not great.


The Woman
5 stars

This novel picks up right where the Offspring left off. The Woman, gravely wounded, is the only survivor of the OffSeason clan, after First Stolen, Second Stolen and the offspring are all killed she wanders the beaches.
The Cleek family appears fairly average until you get a look into their dark secrets.
Patriarch Christopher Cleek captures The Women, she is an experiment to him (one of many), can he domesticate her? and what effect will having a feral cannibal in their lives have on Cleeks wife and children?

I am so sad to write that I was not impressed with this novel. I feel like it was a publisher pleaser, its not something I would expect from Ketchum. The development is sloppy, the plot has huge holes and the whole thing is really unbelievable (which is what made the first book so great!). Filled with lots of shock factors and gore but thats about it :(


+ My Previous Posts for Off Season - Book Review Published August 19/2015

TBR - December 2015

I have not published a TBR list in a few months now. I have been in somewhat of a reading slump, some of it is lack of motivation and I just haven't had the time.

The bit of reading that I have done has been rereads more than anything.

I am going to be really ambitious for December however.

• The Darkest Minds Trilogy, Alexandra Bracken
• The Darkest Minds
• Never Fade
• In the Afterlight
• The Right to Life, Jack Ketchum
• The Stand by Stephen King
• Allegiant, Veronica Roth
• Watership Down, Richard Adams

Plus continuing on with the Lord of the Rings, Audiobooks

Wrap Up - August

1. Fever, Lauren DeStephano
2. Sever, Lauren DeStephano
3. The Island of Dr Moreau, HG Wells
4. Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Laini Tayor
5. The Days of Blood and Starlight, Lani Taylor
6. Dreams of Gods and Monsters, Lani Taylor
7. True Crime : 17 Deadly Women Through the Ages, Stephenie Glover
8. Twisted Imaginings Vol 1-4, Garry Charles
9. Off Season, Jack Ketchum
10. Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs
11. The Fellowship of the Ring, JRR Tolkien

My favourite novel this month was : Off Season, Jack Ketchum

Book Review - Off Season

Off Season
Jack Ketchum

9 Stars
Horror / Thriller/ Cannibal/
Easy Read
270 Pages

The Story of the Lightkeeper has been told around campfires for years. The island where the lighthouse stood flooded nearly killing the whole family, severing their connection with civilization, slowly starving to death. Father and son are lost at sea attempting to reach the mainland, the mother dies hours before rescue in her daughters arms, and the final daughter the youngest becomes a feral child in order to survive. The tale only a generation or two from becoming a legend. The facts forgotten and eroded by the passing of time and many many retellings. Dead River is a small town, No-Wheres-Ville to the city folk who flock there during the busy summer. With winter in the air it is the off season, six travellers from New York settle into a rental home blissfully unaware of the cannibal tribe prowling in the darkness.

#1 right under the title the novel was recommended by Stephen King. #2 Cannibals #3 Ketchum wrote The Girl Next Door, which is one of the only books to stop me dead (pun intended) in my tracks.
This was such a delightful quick read, this had such high expectations after The Girl Next Door, I would have settled for nothing less than being deeply disturbed. Wish Granted! From the word go the action begins, I got a little worried once through this beginning part when the descriptions - which where far from boring, built up anticipation until the tension was pliable - got to be a little longer than I had thought. But it was worth the wait, because once The Family begins there hunt you can't put the book down!

**to the uncut version, which I had started and shelved after deciding to wait till I had the whole series - which I still have yet to get my hands on - you people did the world a terrible disservice, we would have had this masterpiece way sooner if not for your small minded mass market paperback, grubby greedy little manipulations.

Book Review - The Island of Dr Moreau

The Island of Dr Moreau
HG Wells

7 Stars
Classic/ Thriller / Mystery / Diary /
Medium/Hard read

Just like most bookworms I am constantly kicking myself about not reading more classics. the #1 reason = I find even the smallest classics to be tough reads. Classics always seem to involve rereading (at least in part), note taking and generally quite a bit of thought. I finally got around to this particular novel because it was mentioned in the Skin Collector by Jeffery Deaver. From the bits and pieces put into the Skin Collector, I got the idea that this novel was about a man scientist (who looks like the Dr from the human centipede in my head) doing some kind of experiment involving human, animal conjoining. I was anticipating Chimera, Frankenstien,  Clive Barker books of blood... you get the idea. I hope.

The novel in short : Edward Pendrick is the only survivor of a ship wreck in the middle of the ocean. He is found a year after, floating in a life boat, claiming no memory of how he survived the past 12 months. What we [the reader] are reading is the diary told in hindsight, of the "lost" months.
Ed is saved and brought to The Island after being found by Montgomery, Dr Moreau's assistant. Shortly after arriving we meet the Dr, who was once a fairly well known man in England. Cast out of society for his experiments on living animals, which we discover he has continued on the Island. Shortly Ed becomes aware of the Beast-People, the explanation of who these Beast-People are, how they came to be, how they live, is the main focal point of the book.

I know I have read some HG Wells before although I can't really remember what. I really enjoyed this book, it was very visual, and think that it would make a phenomenal comic.

Series Review - The Daughter of Smoke and Bone

By Laini Taylor

YA/ Teen/ fantasy/ fiction/

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone
9 stars

I had heard of this book or Taylor before and I really didn't know what the story was about. The reviews looked good though so I thought I'd give it a try. I started reading all of these on my way to New Zealand, and I finished the whole series in a little over two weeks (even though I didn't really do very much reading).
Meet Karou, she is Prague's hidden mystery. No one knows where she comes from, who her family is, where she goes when she disappears on her "errands" for days at a time. Although Karou is bound to tell you she disappears into another world, into a workshop filled with teeth where you can buy wishes, for the right price. Run by the chimera (human-animal hybrids). When angels come to earth, Karou's life is torn apart. Desperate to put the pieces back together, mysteries surrounding the angels, the other world and Karou herself must be solved, before their time runs out.

Amazing, fantastic, phenomenal, wonderful, magical. I fell in love with Karou and all the characters, Prague, the workshop, everything. These books are not YA but they are also not adult books, they fall into a very small elite category in between.

SPOILERS (tried to leave out anything major but BEWARE)

Book Tag - Disney Villains

Disney Villain Book Tag

Sleeping Beauty

A book or book series in which there is an overwhelming sense of evil/doom.

NOS4A2, Joe Hill

The Evil Queen 

Snow White

A book or book series in which the villain tricks the hero.
Armory Saint John
The Cove, Catherine Coulter

Cruella De Vil

101 Dalmatians
A book or book series in which the villain brings about their own demise.

Jael, The Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Laini Taylor

Ursula

Little Mermaid
A book or book series that left you speechless.

The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum

Capitan Hook

Peter Pan
A book or book series in which you just can't take the villain seriously.

Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer

Jafar

Aladin
A book or book series in which the villain almost wins. 

Fire Bringer, David Clement Davis

Hades

Hercules
A book or book series in which you can't help but love the villain.

Lothaire, Kresley Cole

Scar

Lion King
A book or book series with familial betrayal
Roger Conte

The Song of the Lioness, Tamora Pierce

Gaston

Beauty and the Beast
A book or book series in which the villain makes a fool of themselves.

Draco Malphoy, Harry Potter, JK Rowling

Hans

Frozen
A book or book series with a villain you didn't see coming.
Alex, Pierre Lemaitre

Book Review - Twisted Imaginings

Twisted Imaginings Vol's 1-4

By Gary Charles

Horror/Short Story/ Thiller/ Killer/ Gore/ Graphic
8.5 Stars


I had never heard of Charles before although once I did a little googling he is somewhat of a big name in the UK. They should promote him in Canada and the US like crazy! These are such amazing stories, I grabbed all four volumes for free off of I-tunes and I am so happy that I did. If you are a fan of Stephen King or Clive Barker (I have the Books of Blood in mind) then you have to read these stories. They are so creepy and wonderfully thrilling.

1. The Circus
2. The Tunnel
3. Gypsy's Revenge
4. Mother
5. The Greenhouse
6. The Messiah
7. Voices in Shadows
8. Vomit Baby
9. The Pleasure in Pain

Sorry if I got these in the wrong order but I recommend each and every one of them, the Circus and The Greenhouse were my two favourites, can't wait to read more by Charles. Such an amazing author find!

The Dr Seuss Book Tag

I wanted to put this at the top of my post because this was what gave me the idea for this Book Tag

The Butter Battle Book - A book involving nuclear war

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, Eleanor Coerr 

Wither, Lauren Destephano

The Sneetches and other stories - A book involving racism

The Help, Katheryn Stockett

The Lorax - A book about the environment OR A book regarding the destruction of the/an environment

The Secret Garden, Frances Burnett-Hodges

Yertle the Turtle - A book with an unquestioned tyrannical ruler (government/ king/ religious leader)

Not Without My Sister, Kristina Jones

Brian Jaques - Redwall theme

How the Grinch Sole Christmas - A Christmas novel OR A book regarding extreme materialism

NOS4A2, Joe Hill

Green Eggs and Ham - A book with a difficult, frustrating main character

Gwen, The Precious Stone Trilogy, Katherine Gier

Horton Heres a Who - A book about a world within a world

Under the Dome, Stephen King

The Cat in the Hat - I Can't Think of a Good Enough Question to go with this book... Suggestions????

Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political, and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decisio

Efficiency the ability to do things well, successfully, and without waste

Skepticism a questioning attitude towards any knowledge that is stated as a fact. For you to believe requires all information to be supported by evidence.

TBR - August 2015

TBR
August 2015

So I just moved to New Zealand and things are crazy so I am not really expecting to be reading much this month, setting my sights pretty low, its still 6 books that have been in my TBR pile for a little while now which is good.

1. Divergent Trilogy, Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant, 
2. Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy, Lauren Taylor

Bonus for this month would be 

• one classic
• one horror novel
• AND OR
• Starting the hobbit/ lord of the rings (because the movie sets are here in NZ and I should get around to reading those books soonish)

Series Review - The Chemical Garden Trilogy - Fever & Sever

Series Review

The Chemical Garden Trilogy

Lauren DeStephano

Review For Wither


Fever
8 Stars

I read this on my trip from Canada to New Zealand its my mission to finish as many of my started Duologies and Trilogies as is possible this year.
This is one of the rare sequels that rivalled the first novel. I finally thought that the characters matched the story and the world. During the first book Rhine's behaviour seemed childish and naive there was a whiny tone that I couldn't grasp considering the world she was living in and the life she had lived before. I was left in disbelief and the end of the last novel when she escaped the Ashby mansion.  I was not in love with Gabriel and was very much against a relationship between the two of them.

SPOILDERS BELOW, SEVER REVIEW