Book Review: Havana Storm by Clive Cussler and Dirk Cussler

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense

Synopsis: Dirk Pitt returns, in the thrilling new novel from the grand master of adventure and #1 New York Times–bestselling author.

While investigating a toxic outbreak in the Caribbean Sea that may ultimately threaten the United States, Pitt unwittingly becomes involved in something even more dangerous—a post-Castro power struggle for the control of Cuba. Meanwhile, Pitt’s children, marine engineer Dirk and oceanographer Summer, are on an investigation of their own, chasing an Aztec stone that may reveal the whereabouts of a vast historical Aztec treasure. The problem is, that stone was believed to have been destroyed on the battleship Maine in Havana Harbor in 1898, which brings them both to Cuba as well—and squarely into harm’s way. The three of them have been in desperate situations before . . . but perhaps never quite as dire as the one facing them now.

My Take: I read this in two days, because that is how much I enjoy Dirk Pitt Adventures! I don't know what it is about Dirk Pitt, but I just dig him. He is like Indiana Jones of the Sea. I loved all the anthropological sequences with Summer and Dirk Jr, in Mexico. I studied the Aztecs in college and appreciate the effort for research. It was a fun mix of fact and fiction! I love how he weaves together real life history with creative fiction, like his explanation for the sinking of the Maine. If someone had told me this theory, I would have laughed, but the way the way Clive and his son Dirk weave the story, it makes total sense. That is talent right there! Cannot wait for the next Dirk Pitt Novel!

Have you read Dirk Pitt? What is your favorite book in the series? Let us know in the comments below.

Until next time,

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Book Review: Roamer A Lost to Found Rescue Dog Story By Michael Delaware

Genre: Mid grade fiction

Synopsis: Barney gets separated from his family during the evacuation from Hurricane Katrina. He ends up lost and living on the beach, befriending some of the lost humans living there as well.

My Take: This is a sad story. It has a Lady and the Tramp feel, with a darker twist. There are some beautifully written lines that make me miss the ocean, such as "The wind blew softly across the water in the gulf, and he could smell the salt in the air as he watched the persistent pattern of waves splashing over the sandy shore."

But I had a hard time getting into the story. For one, it bounces around a lot. I know, we are getting the story from the perspective of a dog. However, I feel like the author could have done better managing the flow. As it is, this short read feels a bit repetitive. I would not read this story with my middle grader as it is a bit traumatizing. There is a Where the Red Fern Grows moment that really pulled me from the story because it went from sad to super dark real quick.

The layout also bugged me. The author typically writes nonfiction, and he kept a nonfiction layout. It felt strange. I also had a hard time with the way he displayed speech in italics, rather than quotes. I will give him points for consistency at least.

The last complaint was the grammar. Several times the word women was used, when it was intended to be woman. There were also several points of syntax error. When it comes to these things, I am a bit more demanding than the average reader. When it comes to writing geared toward youth, I find such errors unforgivable as it dumbs down our children.

To sum up: There is some beautiful imagery in the story, and I think if the author expanded the story, organized the flow, and brought the reading level up, it would be a great YA book, like Where the Red Fern Grows, but at it's current length and structure, I would not read it to my boys.

Book Review:The Gate: Journey to the New World by M. W. Smith

Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy

Synopsis: The Gate: Journey to the New World is an exciting tale of two best friends, separated by a fated journey. As the two young girls are wrenched apart, one is thrown into another world, while the other is left alone in reality. 
Evanley tumbles through nothingness, only to be pitted against teens her age, a tyrannical leader, and a collection of monsters that will stretch your imagination. Meanwhile, in the real world, Jadelyn finds herself bewildered and alone, something she fears more than anything. She is forced to face a violent, daunting change in her heart, mind, and soul that leans toward a darkness she has never experienced before. 

My Thoughts: This is an amazing and inventive story. Evanley and Jadelyn are such complete opposites, fighting through teenage struggles and the fantasy backdrop allows the author to address troubles that are common to teenage hormones. Not the typical sappy crap that you see in books about teen girls, but the real deep struggles of coping with hormones and being awkward, and trying to find who you are through the pressures of society. The fact that the author artfully addresses these issues through a unique urban fantasy backdrop allows them to feel more real. 

There are a few plot holes, though given that the book is clearly set up for a sequel, I am not sure how many of them will be addressed in the next books. 

The only downside was the final editing. There were a lot of errors, which for this Grammar Nazi was a bit of a nightmare, but the story was so compelling and the characters so relatable, that I continued reading, despite the errors. M.W. Smith is a brilliant storyteller and I hope that he gets a great editor to clean up the final edit. I eagerly look forward to reading the next installment. 

Book Review: Look Me In The Eyes by John Elder Robison

 Genre: Memoir

Synopsis: The author writes about his life with Aspergers, before there was a commonly held diagnosis. John is the older brother of Augustun Burroughs, the author of Running with Scissors. He talks about his early years, how he sees the world and how the world saw him. His success and his failures, and how he believes Aspergers contributed to both in different ways.

My thoughts: This was assigned reading to help me understand my son, who has been diagnosed on the autism spectrum, probably Aspergers. One of the things I struggled with was the portrayal of the parents. I'll be honest, I have not read Running with Scissors and know little to nothing about it other than vaguely remembering the trailer for the movie. As a mother with a child with Aspergers, I have often felt like I was going crazy. After we moved (before he was diagnosed) we were in between insurance which meant no counselling or medication. For a time I was isolated (no extended family nearby, no friends, working from home.) and the primary caregiver. For that first six months, I might have become very unhinged.

And I knew that my child was special needs. I had the long-distance support of family, I had the internet. Still, I worried that my child was a sociopath. I felt like he was doing things intentionally to bully me (and after reading the book, I'm not entirely convinced he wasn't.) If I had been living in the same time and had the little support system that their mother had, I am not sure I could have held onto my sanity.

An interesting perspective.

If you enjoy Sheldon from The Big Bang, then you will probably enjoy this memoir, but for someone living with a loved one with Aspergers there were many moments I had to laugh simply to keep from crying.

Book Review: The Maze Runner

Finally, I am getting to the review of Maze Runner by James Dashner.

Genre: YA dystopian

Synopsis: If you ain’t scared, you ain’t human.
 When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone.
 Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade.
 Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive.
 Everything is going to change. Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.
 Remember. Survive. Run.

My Take:  Finishing the book didn't improve my opinion of the story. Unfortunately, my boys enjoyed it so we will be continuing to read the series.  I keep wondering what is wrong with me, that everyone else really likes this series, and I am just not into it.  I think that part of the problem is that I find the whole thing so impossible to imagine. Maybe I have a better hope for humanity, or as a parent I know I would never ever allow something like this to happen to my children. I also know that most parents I know would die before letting something like this happen. There is nothing in the set up to give me the ability to accept this alternate reality. With Hunger Games, I can understand how the world could end up that way. Same with Divergent (though to be fair, I only watched the movie. I haven't read the series yet.) 

But with Maze Runner we are dropped into this situation that makes absolutely no sense, and gets harder to comprehend as the story goes along. Another piece I struggle with is seeing a group of teenage boys functioning like that to survive. Sure it implies that the creators laid down a bunch of rules, and that the boys know they are being watched, but nothing to indicate that the creators ever got involved in enforcing those rules. 

 I'm sorry, I know too many teenage boys. Sure there are some who would be responsible for a time, but to have a whole glade of boys who all followed the rules and work together for the most part without any adult interaction? Lord of the Flies was a more accurate representation of boys left to their own devices. 

Book review: The Road of Darkness by Zoe Ambler

I really want to enjoy this book.... and I must have, because I finished it eagerly in one day, despite having a lot of house work and several chapters I was supposed to edit... Yeah. I couldn't put it down. It is the story of a young woman from New Orleans who was raised by a voodoo-practicing slave-nanny and ends up getting changed into a vampire because she snuck off to buy some supplies for her own voodoo practices.

Her soul is given to Baron Samedi and we get to see her go through history learning to survive and thrive as a vampire. There are exciting introductions to different species of vampires, to other supernatural creatures, and to demons. The book has so much to love....

But the author rushes through telling us bits that would have been much more interesting shown; rushing through bits and pieces that although not strictly relevant to the plot, were much more interesting.... Well, and to be fair, would have been relevant to the plot because the plot plays out like an autobiography. There isn't really a plot. We are simply following Addison's life, or unlife as it were. Spending more time on interesting and relevant pieces would have been good.

I have to say something about the writing. Usually I am a major stickler for poor writing. There are six books that I have not finished reading in my life. One just recently was made into a major motion picture. Because of that, it gave me pause to say anything. Clearly there is a large mass of readers who don't care.... and there is another book that was made into a motion picture recently that is grammatically well written and I have spent almost three months trying to get through, so I obviously enjoyed this error-riddled book more than those other book which shall remain nameless...

But as a writer, I cannot bring myself not to discuss it. This author is the perfect example of a writer who is a master story teller, but would benefit SO MUCH from having an editor. She did a fantastic job with writing in dialect. And someone obviously did some work editing (though it wasn't obvious until I got to the last handful of chapters where it really fell apart!) but I know high schoolers who could have done a better job editing. Seriously.

There were a couple of pet peeves that really drove me nuts, that could have been fixed by a best friend reading through and wouldn't have cost the author a penny. (It is per se, not per say. You start a new paragraph when you change speakers, and spell check is a must!! In this modern age, there is no excuse for misspelled words. Homophone errors, perhaps, but not straight up misspelled words!)

But really every author should have a professional editor. I provide editing for other authors, and I hire someone to edit my books. Even if you do not have a budget to have the book edited, there are ways to trade favors with other authors, give new editors a chance to build their chops, get beta readers, so many options.  I hope the author does that. Pull the book and get some people to read it. Polish this diamond in the rough and buff that baby straight up because I really want to read this series!!!

Book Review: Tannion

I finally finished Tannion by Wayne Elsner, and it was so enjoyable!

Tannion is a fantastic anti-hero, so to speak. His character development, processing his powers, using them for good and bad, and growing into his own is relatable.

I want to think that if I were to suddenly develop super powers I would be more like Spiderman than The Punisher, and yet... I do like the Punisher more.

Not saying that Tannion is necessarily like the Punisher, but his rationale for the paths that he takes are understandable, even if I would like to think that wouldn't be the way I would go.


I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

Check out Wayne Elsner's website to learn more about the series. Get your own copy of Tannion here

Tannion: That Day- Pre-book review

I am about halfway through Tannion: That Day and I am enjoying it thoroughly. I loved this story the first time I looked at it when Wayne was looking for a publisher. I loved it then, and I am so glad to see it in print now, even though I did not end up publishing it for him.

Tannion reminds me of a grown up version of comic books. It is the story of an ordinary man who develops extraordinary abilities and this leads him to go through the moral dilemma of how to use these abilities. 

One of the things that I really love about Tannion is that he reminds me a lot of my oldest son. Not a bad guy, but not a good guy either. Very much marginalized throughout his life, he gets a bit heady with all of his power.  The semi-scientific process he sets up to experiment with his abilities without any consideration of the consequences, but taking it in as he goes along all remind me so much of my son.  It is an interesting perspective that we never really get with comic book characters. They are either inherently good and become heroes (yes, even Iron Man is inherently good, despite his attempts to come across as a wealthy playboy who is self absorbed.) or inherently evil and become super villains.  

Tannion is just a regular guy. We see him do good, we see him do evil. We don't know which way he is going to go. At this point in the story (and maybe this is some fear because of how much he reminds me of my son) I am afraid that at best he might become an antihero. But still there is hope. I understand that this is planned to be a series, and I am eager to keep reading the series and to watch this character develop in the complexity that is our true world, not clearly good or clearly evil, but clearly entertaining! Learn more about the Tannion series on Wayne Elsner's site

Look forward to my full review coming out soon.

Who is your favorite super hero or super villain? Let us know in the comments below! 

Until next time, 

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Quarantined Planet By John Allen Pace, a Book Review

Genre: Science Fiction

Synopsis: Food doesn't grow easily on New Earth. Much of it arrives on massive supply ships and when one goes missing, the planet's few thousand inhabitants are in grave peril. Chloe Meeks, a beautiful and gentle soul longing for a human utopia, is a rookie space pilot who doubts her abilities. Putting those insecurities aside, she joins her stern British captain Gordon and Nix, a wise-cracking young man vying for her affections, to find the lost craft. Dodging asteroids and other dangers in a rickety spaceship, they find the supply vessel drifting, its crew dead. Chloe is soon confronted with the horrifying knowledge that her former lover Amon Earl is responsible. She later learns that New Earth has been quarantined as a galactic threat and even worse, Earl intends to eradicate the few humans remaining as atonement for Earth's demise. To stop him, Chloe will have to do the unthinkable; murder the man she loved.

My Take: First of all, this book is really short for a sci-fi book. The price for such a small book is outrageous. The cover art is, meh. A lot better than a lot of self published work, but nothing that makes me go: I have to pick this up! Sorry, been a bit self-conscious about cover work lately! 

But a book isn't about the cover, or at least not just about the cover! Unfortunately, as a sci fi fan, the cover is the best part for me. There are whole scenes that are almost completely ripped off from Fire In The Sky, a really bad 1993 sci fi movie that told the reportedly true story of three men's alien abduction. Yeah, there are plenty who can argue that it gives validity to the story. Lots of sci-fi stories have taken elements from "true encounters" to do the same, but there is taking aspects and then there is almost verbatim scene copying. 

And that wasn't the only thing about this book that was taken from others. Now, there is nothing new under the sun, I know. I am sure that there are plenty of things in my own books that hearken back to other works, intentionally or otherwise. But when the entire book feels like a mish-mash of a bunch of other stories, even to the point of the way that it flows? There is formulaic, and then there is not having a new or original spin on anything. 

Sorry, The Matrix was a massive rip off of several other themes and concepts, and yet it presented it in its own original and brilliant light. That is why it is still being watched today. This book did not do that.

Pretty-Shield: Medicine Woman of the Crows by Frank B Linderman, A Book Review

Genre: Biography, memoir, anthropological study

Synposis: Pretty-shield, the legendary medicine woman of the Crows, remembered what life was like on the Plains when the buffalo were still plentiful. A powerful healer who was forceful, astute, and compassionate, Pretty-shield experienced many changes as her formerly mobile people were forced to come to terms with reservation life in the late nineteenth century.

Pretty-shield told her story to Frank Linderman through an interpreter and using sign language. The lives, responsibilities, and aspirations of Crow women are vividly brought to life in these pages as Pretty-shield recounts her life on the Plains of long ago. She speaks of the simple games and dolls of an Indian childhood and the work of the girls and women—setting up the lodges, dressing the skins, picking berries, digging roots, and cooking. Through her eyes we come to understand courtship, marriage, childbirth and the care of babies, medicine-dreams, the care of the sick, and other facets of Crow womanhood.

My Take: OK, my mom got this book when she was in college, and I read it when I was very young. I loved it so much, that I still have that copy and have read it about a dozen times! Something about Native American History calls to me. It always has. (No one has noticed that many of my books have Native Americans in them, have they?)  Perhaps it is the need to connect with my heritage, perhaps it comes from growing up in Montana, so close to the reservation. Maybe it is my Underdog complex, I don't know. 

But this book is an amazing view of Native Americans. It not only shows the culture and history, but how that changed with being forced to live on the reservation. It is not about legendary characters, or massive game changing events (though they do briefly discuss her memories of some events that may not be big in the collective memory of Native American history, but were catastrophic for this tribe.)

Pretty Shield focuses on the every day, and makes it beautiful. She shares stories of her youth, stories of her People. It is simple, elegant, and enlightening. I am sure I will read it again soon. 

Book Review: Runaway Ralph by Beverly Cleary

Genre: Midgrade Fiction

Back of the Book: Ralph, the adventurous mouse, sets out for a children's summer camp on his motorcycle after being teased and chided by his family.

My Take: I loved this book as a kid, and am amazed how well my garage sale copy held up! My youngest picked it off the shelf for our family reading time as we are in between series until after Christmas ;)

It was unfortunate timing, as we had just put out poison because over a month of live traps had not cured our mouse infestation. But the book was as fun and as charming as I remember, and left me feeling very guilty when my son begged me to go back to the live traps and pleaded to keep one as a pet. Alas, the poison did its job. 

Cleary's writing is far from brilliant, but her storytelling is superb. She breathes life into her characters and now I have a bit more insight into why I don't like cats, I feel guilty for putting out poison to kill mice, and I always dreamed of going to summer camp!  Still loved it after all these years! 

Until next time, 

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