Hello. As you have discovered, I am a singular person. I am also a person with a lot of time on my hands, much of which I devote to reading and writing. Sadly, though, what I've found of reading material lately all seem to fall into the same pattern. You go into Barnes&Noble to spend that last ten dollars on that gift card left over from Christmas, and everything's the same:
girl (with uncontrolled superpowers) <3 boy + 2 of them must go out to end the apocalypse/solve high school drama fiasco/help fill in the blank deal with *insert tragedy here*
Or, some variation of that. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that with the commercialization of the Young Adult novel--especially the genre of dystopian, from what I've observed) has come the decline of the sophisticated (or, at least interesting) plot.
This is a pretty petty problem, I am well aware. I could be using my time to do something helpful to society, but I'm not. Excuse me, society, but all I want to do is read a good book. But, I can hardly find them. Do you know how much junk I have to read to find at least one good book to post on? Or, how many book summaries that are practically exactly the same, even though they're from different authors, to find a goodly amount of books to take home from the library?
Because of this, I am striving to weed out the books that still retain the plot and integrity that so many others have given up to be part of the mainstream. I don't know how many people will actually read this, and out of those people who will actually care, but if anyone has any good books that they've read that they think are unique could you tell me about them? I would love to read them.
Thank you. :]
Friday, April 5, 2013
The Munstrumologist
mun-strum-ol-o-gy, n.
1. The study of life forms generally
malevolent to humans and not recognized
by science as actual organisms, specifically
those considered products of myth or folklore.
2.The act of hunting such creatures.
"The Munstrumologist" by Rick Yancey is probably the most gruesome book I have ever read. I do not exaggerate when I say that it is fantastic.
Anthropophagi: Headless beats with mouths in the center of their abdomen, eyes on each of their shoulder blades and a nearly insatiable thirst for human flesh. Doctor Warthrop: One of the foremost experts on Munstrumology and the habits of such ferocious beasts, a man with an ego bigger than most planets. The Situation?: An infestation of man-eating beasts in a small New England town in the late 1800s. Jack Kearns: The man that's brought in to kill them. Will Henry: The twelve year-old boy that's forced to bear witness to it all. Someone has created a river of blood and a path of destruction, bringing dangerous beasts into this town. Blinded by pride, it's impossible to see. And that can have deadly consequences.
Warning: If you are squeamish, do not read this book. If you have an aversion to graphic descriptions, mostly involving decapitations or bugs eating people alive, do not read this book. If you do not like the possibility that there might be monsters underneath your bed at night, do not read this book. But, if you relish those things, then, by all means. Please, I beg you. Read away.
The book is told from Will Henry's point of view, looking back on past events. At least, that's what it's supposed to be, but it reads like your average first-person past-tense novel. But, because he's telling you, though, and you're not supposed to be submerged within the situation to the extent that you're supposed to be in other first-person scenarios, when something is hidden from you it doesn't feel like a glaring omission. Will Henry, though, is portrayed as a twelve-year-old boy very well. You never get the illusion that he's older than his said age, nor do you get the illusion that he's younger, which is a very difficult balance to come by, especially when an adult is writing.
The doctor is an enigmatic figure. Will Henry feels a very strong loyalty to him, though you can't really understand why because the doctor is not the sort of fellow that you'd want to live with. The author tries to make it clear that Will Henry has a very strong bond with the doctor by telling you repeatedly, but you only really begin to see the connection near the end of the book.
Jack Kearns is also a conceited character. He's the stereotypical 'rouge' character, riding up on his metaphorical white horse, concerned about his appearance, expecting people to bow down to him as he proceeds to save the day, and making witticisms that are amusing to the reader but annoying to the people he's interacting This character, though, has fewer morals than the Grim Reaper himself (or herself). There is also a very strange connection from this character to another historical 'legend' that appears at the end of the book. I don't get it, and I hope that it the author follows up on it in one of the sequels.
The plot of this book is fairly straightforward. There aren't very many twists and turns that you can't see coming, but that's okay. Not every book has to be a work of a crazy physiologist (thought, don't we wish that was the case). In this case, the less elaborate plot--don't get me wrong, it's plenty complicated, but it isn't "Ender's Game" thought-provoking--is preferable, leaving us to focus on what really matters. Namely, the blood and the guts.
The language can be a bit troublesome at times. There are hardly any curse words in it, as far as I can remember, it's just the vocabulary. It's written in period-vernacular, not exactly old English, but it doesn't dumb anything down. Which is nice, but sometimes things can get lost among all the pretty words. Yet another reason not to make the plot so complicated. And, if you miss something, you can usually pick it up a bit on, because everything has to be reiterated (no one wants to accept things the first time around).
This book has a fantastic last line, though. "Yes, my dear child, monsters are real. I happen to have one hanging in my basement." I love that line. It's so weird and creepy and gives you such a good picture of what the rest of the book is like. Should I stop gushing right now?
I couldn't find the second book, "The Curse of the Wendigo" in the library when I looked for it, but I will be looking for that. The third book, "Isle of Blood" I believe, was at the library, but there's no point in reading the third book when you haven't read the second. Oh, and, today, (because I know you care so much) I found a tree leaking a strange orange substance in my backyard and I went up and touched it. So, now I'm terrified that little white worms, no bigger than a hair, will eat me alive. And I leave you now with that pleasant thought.
http://www.rickyancey.com/monstrumologist/index.php For some weird reason, this site does not have anything on "Isle of Blood," which results in the fact that I don't really know what the book's called, I'm just hazarding a guess based off of what's in the authors bio.
1. The study of life forms generally
malevolent to humans and not recognized
by science as actual organisms, specifically
those considered products of myth or folklore.
2.The act of hunting such creatures.
"The Munstrumologist" by Rick Yancey is probably the most gruesome book I have ever read. I do not exaggerate when I say that it is fantastic.
Anthropophagi: Headless beats with mouths in the center of their abdomen, eyes on each of their shoulder blades and a nearly insatiable thirst for human flesh. Doctor Warthrop: One of the foremost experts on Munstrumology and the habits of such ferocious beasts, a man with an ego bigger than most planets. The Situation?: An infestation of man-eating beasts in a small New England town in the late 1800s. Jack Kearns: The man that's brought in to kill them. Will Henry: The twelve year-old boy that's forced to bear witness to it all. Someone has created a river of blood and a path of destruction, bringing dangerous beasts into this town. Blinded by pride, it's impossible to see. And that can have deadly consequences.
Warning: If you are squeamish, do not read this book. If you have an aversion to graphic descriptions, mostly involving decapitations or bugs eating people alive, do not read this book. If you do not like the possibility that there might be monsters underneath your bed at night, do not read this book. But, if you relish those things, then, by all means. Please, I beg you. Read away.
The book is told from Will Henry's point of view, looking back on past events. At least, that's what it's supposed to be, but it reads like your average first-person past-tense novel. But, because he's telling you, though, and you're not supposed to be submerged within the situation to the extent that you're supposed to be in other first-person scenarios, when something is hidden from you it doesn't feel like a glaring omission. Will Henry, though, is portrayed as a twelve-year-old boy very well. You never get the illusion that he's older than his said age, nor do you get the illusion that he's younger, which is a very difficult balance to come by, especially when an adult is writing.
The doctor is an enigmatic figure. Will Henry feels a very strong loyalty to him, though you can't really understand why because the doctor is not the sort of fellow that you'd want to live with. The author tries to make it clear that Will Henry has a very strong bond with the doctor by telling you repeatedly, but you only really begin to see the connection near the end of the book.
Jack Kearns is also a conceited character. He's the stereotypical 'rouge' character, riding up on his metaphorical white horse, concerned about his appearance, expecting people to bow down to him as he proceeds to save the day, and making witticisms that are amusing to the reader but annoying to the people he's interacting This character, though, has fewer morals than the Grim Reaper himself (or herself). There is also a very strange connection from this character to another historical 'legend' that appears at the end of the book. I don't get it, and I hope that it the author follows up on it in one of the sequels.
The plot of this book is fairly straightforward. There aren't very many twists and turns that you can't see coming, but that's okay. Not every book has to be a work of a crazy physiologist (thought, don't we wish that was the case). In this case, the less elaborate plot--don't get me wrong, it's plenty complicated, but it isn't "Ender's Game" thought-provoking--is preferable, leaving us to focus on what really matters. Namely, the blood and the guts.
The language can be a bit troublesome at times. There are hardly any curse words in it, as far as I can remember, it's just the vocabulary. It's written in period-vernacular, not exactly old English, but it doesn't dumb anything down. Which is nice, but sometimes things can get lost among all the pretty words. Yet another reason not to make the plot so complicated. And, if you miss something, you can usually pick it up a bit on, because everything has to be reiterated (no one wants to accept things the first time around).
This book has a fantastic last line, though. "Yes, my dear child, monsters are real. I happen to have one hanging in my basement." I love that line. It's so weird and creepy and gives you such a good picture of what the rest of the book is like. Should I stop gushing right now?
I couldn't find the second book, "The Curse of the Wendigo" in the library when I looked for it, but I will be looking for that. The third book, "Isle of Blood" I believe, was at the library, but there's no point in reading the third book when you haven't read the second. Oh, and, today, (because I know you care so much) I found a tree leaking a strange orange substance in my backyard and I went up and touched it. So, now I'm terrified that little white worms, no bigger than a hair, will eat me alive. And I leave you now with that pleasant thought.
http://www.rickyancey.com/monstrumologist/index.php For some weird reason, this site does not have anything on "Isle of Blood," which results in the fact that I don't really know what the book's called, I'm just hazarding a guess based off of what's in the authors bio.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Insignia
"Insignia," by S.J. Kincaid is "Ender's Game" with a twist.
Thomas Raines has spent most of his life traveling from casino to casino, waiting for his dad to finally make a big win. Tom has always been taught to distrust the government, so when a US general shows up and tells Tom that he would be perfect for controlling one of the unmanned drones that does the army's dirty work, fighting for mines and other territories on distant planets during World War III, Tom is apprehensive. This is a chance for greatness, though, the chance to join the few elite of the Camelot Company--a military group of children who control the robots in Outer Space--and to finally become someone important. Tom's all in until they tell him that he has to get a neural implant, a machine in his brain that would make him just like the people is father always looked down on. Thomas Raines must get his mind in order in order to make his own big win, because when gambling with your life everything that makes you you is put into question.
I know that it is unfair to compare anything to "Ender's Game" because Orson Scott Card is a genius writer, but this book can hold it's own. I mean, the premise is basically "Ender's Game" (boy gets taken for military training and plays games instead of learns lessons), but there are a few crucial differences that make the story its own. First, they are not fighting against aliens, they are fighting against other countries, albeit elsewhere in the Solar System. Second, all of the kids have computers in their brains.
The main character, Thomas Raines, is a cross between Eli Monpress and Peter Wiggen, which is fantastic, but I'll get to that in a couple of sentances. The setting, the Pentagon Spire where the cadet kids learn their lessons is a mix of Ender's Battle School and Hogwarts. These crazy combinations are the perfect mix to create something unique and wild, and the author takes full advantage of that.
For starters, Thomas Raines is a unique main character. He has all of the mainuplative slyness of Peter Wiggen, with three-fourths of the ego and all of the creativity Eli Monpress (of "The Legend of Eli Monpress," a series I've yet to review here). He's a lonely kid who has issues with authority and doing what he's told without questioning. He is also one of the most interesting characters I've ever read about. Most characters, one their character and behavioral patterns are established, are relatively easy to predict. You know what their path of action is going to be before they take it which, when done right, is the sign of good writing. T'his book, though, can still surprise you. It's not written in first-person, so you don't know what Tom knows the moment Tom knows it. You have to wait and watch the character traits develop, which takes a while. I'm not saying it's bad, it's just not often that you don't know everything about the main character immediately. When you do know his behavior patterns, it's difficult to predict what he's going to do next, not because of a bad writing style, more because Tom has such a complex personality. Really, it's refreshing.
Tom's friends are also amusing too. Vik, his roommate, is very funny (I think of him as the Doctor of Doom who has a tummy ace :P), as is Wyatt 'Manhands' Enslowe, Beamer, and Yuri. Each of them have their own personalities, and while they might be stereotypical on occasions (Vik has a 'mirror character' in "Ender's Game," except the guy in "Ender's Game" was much more serious) they do provide a nice balance to Tom's suicidal recklessness. The characters who are not Tom's 'friends' are also colorful as well as his enemies. They make sure that the book doesn't get too silly while having a good time. Well, a good a time as you can have when pretty much everything you have is at stake.
Pretty much everything happens at the Pentagon Spire. The division names--and this is where the Hogwarts part of things comes in--are all named after famous commanders. I forget which division Vik and Tom are him, but Wyatt's in Hannibal. There is also a Napoleon division, for example. One of my favorite parts of the book is when the computer coding instructor, Blackburn, sets division against division in a computer code war. You see, it's funny because with the neural implants in their brains, the 'student-cadets' can be controlled with computer code. I just get this picture in my head of hoards of dignified military students acting like sheep and eating the shrubbery . . . Anyway, the place is fantastically (and suitably wacky. Just the place that I would like to go to school in.
Of course, just as all school in all fiction books, there are issues with the school. Or, more importantly, issues with the faculty. Everyone has their own private agenda in Tom's world, so even among all of the physiological manipulation a tussle is bound to happen eventually. Most of the book, though, involves mind games and how physical combat incite deep strategical thoughts.
The plot of the book is very good. With Tom's relatively unpredictable though-pattern, paired with the cast of both goodies and baddies and the situation that they are all involved in, things are rocky. Also, the book doesn't focus on one overall problem. Most mainstream books today follow one or two conflicts -- 1) the main character saving the world, and 2) the main character's love life and maybe 3) the main character's relationship with various other characters. Very annoying. The conflicts in this book is more like 1) to work with or against the system, 2) who to trust and which secrets to keep, 3) the issue with Dominion Agra, 4) the issue with Medusa and the rest of the rival people who have implants in their brain, and 5) the issue that involves issues 2,3, and 4 but is still very much its own issue. Really, it's very interesting and complex and much better than a lot of stuff that passes for Young Adult material. It does make for a very thick volume but, hey, all the more room to showcase the many fantastic characters of the Pentagon Spire.
This is the first book in what is going to be a trilogy. The second book, "Vortex" comes out on July 2cnd. That day, you will find me anxiously waiting at Barnes & Noble, because the twenty dollars that I will spend on that book will be a sure bet.
www.sjkincaid.com The Q&A with the author on the 'home' page is very funny--she has quite a sense of humor--and the 'extras' tab under 'Insignia' (under 'The "Insignia" Series') has a playlist of songs that match up with the book.
Thomas Raines has spent most of his life traveling from casino to casino, waiting for his dad to finally make a big win. Tom has always been taught to distrust the government, so when a US general shows up and tells Tom that he would be perfect for controlling one of the unmanned drones that does the army's dirty work, fighting for mines and other territories on distant planets during World War III, Tom is apprehensive. This is a chance for greatness, though, the chance to join the few elite of the Camelot Company--a military group of children who control the robots in Outer Space--and to finally become someone important. Tom's all in until they tell him that he has to get a neural implant, a machine in his brain that would make him just like the people is father always looked down on. Thomas Raines must get his mind in order in order to make his own big win, because when gambling with your life everything that makes you you is put into question.
I know that it is unfair to compare anything to "Ender's Game" because Orson Scott Card is a genius writer, but this book can hold it's own. I mean, the premise is basically "Ender's Game" (boy gets taken for military training and plays games instead of learns lessons), but there are a few crucial differences that make the story its own. First, they are not fighting against aliens, they are fighting against other countries, albeit elsewhere in the Solar System. Second, all of the kids have computers in their brains.
The main character, Thomas Raines, is a cross between Eli Monpress and Peter Wiggen, which is fantastic, but I'll get to that in a couple of sentances. The setting, the Pentagon Spire where the cadet kids learn their lessons is a mix of Ender's Battle School and Hogwarts. These crazy combinations are the perfect mix to create something unique and wild, and the author takes full advantage of that. For starters, Thomas Raines is a unique main character. He has all of the mainuplative slyness of Peter Wiggen, with three-fourths of the ego and all of the creativity Eli Monpress (of "The Legend of Eli Monpress," a series I've yet to review here). He's a lonely kid who has issues with authority and doing what he's told without questioning. He is also one of the most interesting characters I've ever read about. Most characters, one their character and behavioral patterns are established, are relatively easy to predict. You know what their path of action is going to be before they take it which, when done right, is the sign of good writing. T'his book, though, can still surprise you. It's not written in first-person, so you don't know what Tom knows the moment Tom knows it. You have to wait and watch the character traits develop, which takes a while. I'm not saying it's bad, it's just not often that you don't know everything about the main character immediately. When you do know his behavior patterns, it's difficult to predict what he's going to do next, not because of a bad writing style, more because Tom has such a complex personality. Really, it's refreshing.
Tom's friends are also amusing too. Vik, his roommate, is very funny (I think of him as the Doctor of Doom who has a tummy ace :P), as is Wyatt 'Manhands' Enslowe, Beamer, and Yuri. Each of them have their own personalities, and while they might be stereotypical on occasions (Vik has a 'mirror character' in "Ender's Game," except the guy in "Ender's Game" was much more serious) they do provide a nice balance to Tom's suicidal recklessness. The characters who are not Tom's 'friends' are also colorful as well as his enemies. They make sure that the book doesn't get too silly while having a good time. Well, a good a time as you can have when pretty much everything you have is at stake.
Pretty much everything happens at the Pentagon Spire. The division names--and this is where the Hogwarts part of things comes in--are all named after famous commanders. I forget which division Vik and Tom are him, but Wyatt's in Hannibal. There is also a Napoleon division, for example. One of my favorite parts of the book is when the computer coding instructor, Blackburn, sets division against division in a computer code war. You see, it's funny because with the neural implants in their brains, the 'student-cadets' can be controlled with computer code. I just get this picture in my head of hoards of dignified military students acting like sheep and eating the shrubbery . . . Anyway, the place is fantastically (and suitably wacky. Just the place that I would like to go to school in.
Of course, just as all school in all fiction books, there are issues with the school. Or, more importantly, issues with the faculty. Everyone has their own private agenda in Tom's world, so even among all of the physiological manipulation a tussle is bound to happen eventually. Most of the book, though, involves mind games and how physical combat incite deep strategical thoughts.
The plot of the book is very good. With Tom's relatively unpredictable though-pattern, paired with the cast of both goodies and baddies and the situation that they are all involved in, things are rocky. Also, the book doesn't focus on one overall problem. Most mainstream books today follow one or two conflicts -- 1) the main character saving the world, and 2) the main character's love life and maybe 3) the main character's relationship with various other characters. Very annoying. The conflicts in this book is more like 1) to work with or against the system, 2) who to trust and which secrets to keep, 3) the issue with Dominion Agra, 4) the issue with Medusa and the rest of the rival people who have implants in their brain, and 5) the issue that involves issues 2,3, and 4 but is still very much its own issue. Really, it's very interesting and complex and much better than a lot of stuff that passes for Young Adult material. It does make for a very thick volume but, hey, all the more room to showcase the many fantastic characters of the Pentagon Spire.
This is the first book in what is going to be a trilogy. The second book, "Vortex" comes out on July 2cnd. That day, you will find me anxiously waiting at Barnes & Noble, because the twenty dollars that I will spend on that book will be a sure bet.
www.sjkincaid.com The Q&A with the author on the 'home' page is very funny--she has quite a sense of humor--and the 'extras' tab under 'Insignia' (under 'The "Insignia" Series') has a playlist of songs that match up with the book.
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