Review: The Radleys

The Radleys by Matt Haig

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I didn't like vampire books. I probably would have if it wasn't for the fact that Twilight was such a horrible book and the nauseating love of 13 year old girls for it made it such a sensation. Realizing this, I had decided to give vampires another chance. I never found the right book, though.

When I saw this on the Goodreads Giveaways list, I was intrigued. It was vampires...but non-practicing and trying-to-be-mere-human vampires. How would that work? What would happen to them? How do you pull it off when you have no reflection? I liked the sound of the book and thought it might pull me out of my anti-vampire rut. I was thrilled to win a copy and hopefully optimistic when I began reading.

Good news - it worked! This family (the Radleys) was a group of misfits trying desperately to belong. Illness, lack of loving connections, a sense of forced propriety and an awareness that something was wrong...the kids were miserable, the father was longing for an old but not forgotten life and the mother was desperate to pretend everything was as it wasn't. And then Clara, in a moment of danger, transforms without intention or understanding and the family is left to make sense of a new life that is also an old life. In the time since the parents became abstainers, vampiric life has changed and the family needs to figure out how to act.

I really liked it. In fact, I stayed up late two nights in a row, unable to put the book down. I think I'm finally over the horridness of Twilight and can welcome the vampire genre into my library!



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Review: Rumpel, a retelling of the Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin

Rumpel, a retelling of the Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin by Eileen Cruz Coleman

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



I don't think I've been this lost in a book since Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Or my college calculus textbook. It just doesn't make sense. I can't figure out a plot and haven't recognized one since the first page. Perhaps it's a formatting issue since it's an eBook? I'm a huge fan of fairy tales being re-invented and updated and Rumpelstiltskin is a great option but this just didn't work for me.



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Review: Airman

Airman by Eoin Colfer

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



I enjoy most Eoin Colfer works and thought this would be another great story. I really tried to like the book, especially because it had a sense of steampunk and ballooning in it, but gave up at the halfway point. I simply couldn't make myself read further and I'm not sure why. I simply couldn't get engaged in the story, perhaps.



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Review: Darke

Darke by Angie Sage

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Big book (641 pages, I think) but surprisingly quick read. I have favorites among the characters and I was thrilled that they were primary in this story - Septimus, Marcia, Beetle, Simon - and also glad that some of my less-than-favorites weren't as involved - Snorrie and Ullr, Silas and the Gringe family. I still can't make myself like Jenna, though, and she isn't more likable in this book. I hope to hear more about the newly introduced Young Army graduates in the next one!



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Review: The Emerald Atlas

The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This book hovers between 2 and 3 stars for me. I liked the basic idea - the atlas, the orphans, the magician...it had the elements of a good read-aloud book for the kids and I to share. It didn't work out that way. The characters were too forced for me. The oldest was determined and worried and protective. That's it. There was no additional depth. The brother was over-the-top bookish and backwards. Every sentence, every situation, was exactly the same. And the youngest was angry and fierce and violent. Again, that was her only pattern. I quickly wearied of the youngest and the middle and by the end of the book the oldest was on my last nerve. I don't think we'll read the next two books because I can't imagine books focused on the younger siblings.

I was surprised by the violence. We have read other series (Harry Potter, Septimus Heap, Artemis Fowl) with aggression and threats and my kids weren't troubled. This book's violence was more difficult for the kids. Instead of someone dropping dead from a spell, there were dwarfs with axes that wanted to cut off kids' hands and children imprisoned for 2 years without parents. My youngest quit listening after the ax incident. In my opinion, this book might be a little too intense for the 8 year olds or for children that are a little more anxious about separation.



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Review: Mirror Mirror

Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



I really enjoy Maguire's work. This book, however, did feel like a Maguire to me. I started this book several times and never made it through more than two chapters in a sitting. I wasn't drawn into the story and the characters simply didn't interest me. I finally realized I wasn't going to like it and gave up. I'll read more of his writing and hope to find something as enjoyable as Wicked or Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister.



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