Overpowered
by Cheyanne Young
(4/5 stars)
This is the second book of the "Powered Trilogy." I really liked the first one in that it presented, to my mind anyway, a unique superhero universe. I mean most superhero stories just rip off the familiar DC and Marvel heroes, only changing costumes and powers a little. (Even I'm guilty of that, though intentionally so.) Basically the genetically superior "Supers" have their own nation inside the Grand Canyon where they live and use as a base to defend the world from Villains. In the first book, Maci Might, daughter of the president, came into her powers only to realize she has an identical twin and that she (Maci) is probably the evil twin.
So in book two Maci finds her sister Nova and tries to hide her from the heroes who want to capture her for being a villain. At the same time a new drug called Strike is giving humans the power of superheroes, which they mostly use for underground fight clubs. Who's behind the drug and can anyone stop it?
For the most part I enjoyed this book, though maybe a little less than the first one. Maci is a fun character, especially now that she has a goody-goody twin to play off of. The writing is sharp and as with the first one, I like the uniqueness of the superhero world.
The thing I didn't like is that the plot is too obvious. It's so clear where Strike is coming from that I sat there for much of the book waiting for the heroes to figure it out. But maybe that's just me; maybe the younger people who make up the target audience will be more surprised.
Anyway, it's still a very enjoyable book and I'm looking forward to the conclusion of the trilogy when it sounds as if the [stuff] will really hit the fan.
That is all.
Here you will find all the reviews I've written for self-published and small-published books over the last four years, collected from Amazon and Goodreads
Showing posts with label YA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label YA. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Powered
Powered
by Cheyanne Young
(5/5 stars)
As someone who wrote a series of superhero novels and another standalone superhero novel, I'm always interested in reading the competition. So I eagerly volunteered to read an advanced copy of this book. On the whole I really enjoyed it.
The biggest strength I think is that the author creates a unique world for the characters. In this world there are a bunch of "supers" (ie superhumans) most of whom live in "Central" in the Grand Canyon. The supers have a sort of caste system. There are the Heroes who do all the superheroic stuff like fighting villains and then there are the Retrievers. I didn't fully understand the Retrievers but I take it they pretty much clean up the mess afterwards.
Maci Might is 16 years old, which means her powers have finally reached their full potential. She then undergoes the test to determine if she'll be a Hero or a Retriever. This doesn't go quite as well as she hoped. From there Maci's life continues to unravel as she alienates her friends and family and has to take refuge in South Africa with a cute researcher named Evan. Probably too much time was spent on Maci and Evan hanging out before we get to the final showdown with the villain.
My main criticism is that I think the villain could have been stronger. Almost half the book goes by before we even find out who the villain is and then another quarter of the book goes by before the villain really becomes any kind of threat. Superhero stories are defined as much by the villain as the hero, like Batman vs. the Joker or Superman vs. Lex Luthor or the Scarlet Knight vs. the Black Dragoon.
The only other criticism would be that for what I presume is a YA book there's some gore in there that even made me cringe. The part where Maci suffers a severe head injury had me literally yelling, "Ewwwww, Gross!!!!" So it's probably not best suited for the younger end of the YA spectrum.
(One other technical note is people don't ride donkeys in the Grand Canyon. They ride mules, which are only half-donkey and half-horse. The stuffed mule I bought from the Grand Canyon gift shop wanted me to note that.)
Still, on the whole it's a brisk, fun read. And of course there's plenty of room for Maci's adventures to continue.
That is all.
by Cheyanne Young
(5/5 stars)
As someone who wrote a series of superhero novels and another standalone superhero novel, I'm always interested in reading the competition. So I eagerly volunteered to read an advanced copy of this book. On the whole I really enjoyed it.
The biggest strength I think is that the author creates a unique world for the characters. In this world there are a bunch of "supers" (ie superhumans) most of whom live in "Central" in the Grand Canyon. The supers have a sort of caste system. There are the Heroes who do all the superheroic stuff like fighting villains and then there are the Retrievers. I didn't fully understand the Retrievers but I take it they pretty much clean up the mess afterwards.
Maci Might is 16 years old, which means her powers have finally reached their full potential. She then undergoes the test to determine if she'll be a Hero or a Retriever. This doesn't go quite as well as she hoped. From there Maci's life continues to unravel as she alienates her friends and family and has to take refuge in South Africa with a cute researcher named Evan. Probably too much time was spent on Maci and Evan hanging out before we get to the final showdown with the villain.
My main criticism is that I think the villain could have been stronger. Almost half the book goes by before we even find out who the villain is and then another quarter of the book goes by before the villain really becomes any kind of threat. Superhero stories are defined as much by the villain as the hero, like Batman vs. the Joker or Superman vs. Lex Luthor or the Scarlet Knight vs. the Black Dragoon.
The only other criticism would be that for what I presume is a YA book there's some gore in there that even made me cringe. The part where Maci suffers a severe head injury had me literally yelling, "Ewwwww, Gross!!!!" So it's probably not best suited for the younger end of the YA spectrum.
(One other technical note is people don't ride donkeys in the Grand Canyon. They ride mules, which are only half-donkey and half-horse. The stuffed mule I bought from the Grand Canyon gift shop wanted me to note that.)
Still, on the whole it's a brisk, fun read. And of course there's plenty of room for Maci's adventures to continue.
That is all.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Yoshimi and the Shadow Clan
Yoshimi and the Shadow Clan
by Tony Laplume
(4/5 stars)
My assumption is this has less to do with the Flaming Lips album "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" and more with old kung-fu movies and modern updates like "Kill Bill." There is a girl named Yoshimi who has to train in martial arts, but sadly pink robots are sorely lacking...for now.
In the meantime, the orphaned Yoshimi trains by escaping 36 different foster families until at 15 she's finally released into the world. Her first stop is at the Peers academy, where she gets a book and a sword and gets some vague preparation for a battle against the evildoer who killed her parents. First she has to take on the Shadow Clan led by a guy named Bill, which seems an obvious "Kill Bill" reference despite that I haven't actually watched most of those movies as I have yet to embrace the genius of Quentin Tarantino.
Most of the book is entertaining enough and it's fairly short so it doesn't take a long time to read. I would have preferred a little more detail in the beginning about the foster families and at the end after Yoshimi's confrontation with Bill it might have been nice for things to slow down a little to get more detail about her travels.
There is a decent promise of more to come, though perhaps pink robots are not in the offing. Dang it.
That is all.
by Tony Laplume
(4/5 stars)
My assumption is this has less to do with the Flaming Lips album "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" and more with old kung-fu movies and modern updates like "Kill Bill." There is a girl named Yoshimi who has to train in martial arts, but sadly pink robots are sorely lacking...for now.
In the meantime, the orphaned Yoshimi trains by escaping 36 different foster families until at 15 she's finally released into the world. Her first stop is at the Peers academy, where she gets a book and a sword and gets some vague preparation for a battle against the evildoer who killed her parents. First she has to take on the Shadow Clan led by a guy named Bill, which seems an obvious "Kill Bill" reference despite that I haven't actually watched most of those movies as I have yet to embrace the genius of Quentin Tarantino.
Most of the book is entertaining enough and it's fairly short so it doesn't take a long time to read. I would have preferred a little more detail in the beginning about the foster families and at the end after Yoshimi's confrontation with Bill it might have been nice for things to slow down a little to get more detail about her travels.
There is a decent promise of more to come, though perhaps pink robots are not in the offing. Dang it.
That is all.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Forever Young (Children of Eternity #1)
Forever Young (Children of Eternity #1)
by Claire Lachance
(4/5 Stars)
Did you ever watch that M. Night Whatshisface movie "The Village?" Neither did I, but there is somewhat of a similar premise involved in "Forever Young" by Claire Lachance. Maybe also a little of "Tuck Everlasting" or something too; it's been a while since I read that.
Anyway, the story begins with a 10-year-old girl washing up on an island. When she wakes up, she has no idea who she is or how she came to be on the island. The kindly Miss Brigham gives the girl the name Samantha Young. Why that and not Jane Doe? Hurm...
One Samantha is able to get up and around, she notices something very strange about the island. There are about 50 other children but only three adults: Miss Brigham, the nasty Mr. Pryde, and the head man Reverend Crane. The children do most of the work on the island to grow food, take care of the livestock, cut firewood, and so forth. Their technology is pretty much on par with the Amish, with no boats no phones no motorcars--not a single luxury. That seems odd to Samantha, but she can't understand why at first.
Samantha quickly makes friends with Prudence, a shy fat girl who handles all of the island's sewing. Prudence helps Samantha understand the strict code everyone lives under, called The Way by Reverend Crane. Try as she might, Samantha can't seem to avoid getting into trouble with the reverend and his rules. Making things tougher is that Samantha is the only one on the island with darker skin, making her an immediate target for bullying.
But as time goes by, Samantha begins to remember some things. This helps her to see that there's something not quite kosher about Reverend Crane or what he's doing on the island. But what's his secret? Hurm...
Anyway, this is a pretty short book that moves along at a good clip. Since a reverend is the bad guy it's probably not for devout religious people, which was fine with me. The writing is nothing special, but there aren't too many errors, which is always good. And even though she's only 10, Samantha kicks a lot more ass than Bella Swan. I'm just saying.
That is all.
by Claire Lachance
(4/5 Stars)
Did you ever watch that M. Night Whatshisface movie "The Village?" Neither did I, but there is somewhat of a similar premise involved in "Forever Young" by Claire Lachance. Maybe also a little of "Tuck Everlasting" or something too; it's been a while since I read that.
Anyway, the story begins with a 10-year-old girl washing up on an island. When she wakes up, she has no idea who she is or how she came to be on the island. The kindly Miss Brigham gives the girl the name Samantha Young. Why that and not Jane Doe? Hurm...
One Samantha is able to get up and around, she notices something very strange about the island. There are about 50 other children but only three adults: Miss Brigham, the nasty Mr. Pryde, and the head man Reverend Crane. The children do most of the work on the island to grow food, take care of the livestock, cut firewood, and so forth. Their technology is pretty much on par with the Amish, with no boats no phones no motorcars--not a single luxury. That seems odd to Samantha, but she can't understand why at first.
Samantha quickly makes friends with Prudence, a shy fat girl who handles all of the island's sewing. Prudence helps Samantha understand the strict code everyone lives under, called The Way by Reverend Crane. Try as she might, Samantha can't seem to avoid getting into trouble with the reverend and his rules. Making things tougher is that Samantha is the only one on the island with darker skin, making her an immediate target for bullying.
But as time goes by, Samantha begins to remember some things. This helps her to see that there's something not quite kosher about Reverend Crane or what he's doing on the island. But what's his secret? Hurm...
Anyway, this is a pretty short book that moves along at a good clip. Since a reverend is the bad guy it's probably not for devout religious people, which was fine with me. The writing is nothing special, but there aren't too many errors, which is always good. And even though she's only 10, Samantha kicks a lot more ass than Bella Swan. I'm just saying.
That is all.
New Pride
New Pride
by Laura Diamond
(5/5 Stars)
If you're a fan of "Twilight" and similar books then "Shifting Pride" is up your alley. Instead of a vampire or werewolf, Richard is more of a werecat--he turns into a panther. After his father sends him packing, Richard hooks up with a pack of other werecats who turn into lions, lynxes, bobcats, etc., but he's far more interested in Molly. She's an artist he finds in the woods and is far less annoying than Bella Swan. But his new pack isn't happy about him spending time with a normal person. You can see where that's heading.
As I said, if you like "Twilight" then you'll enjoy this. It's a fast-paced, exciting read. And the idea of turning into a panther is pretty cool.
That is all.
by Laura Diamond
(5/5 Stars)
If you're a fan of "Twilight" and similar books then "Shifting Pride" is up your alley. Instead of a vampire or werewolf, Richard is more of a werecat--he turns into a panther. After his father sends him packing, Richard hooks up with a pack of other werecats who turn into lions, lynxes, bobcats, etc., but he's far more interested in Molly. She's an artist he finds in the woods and is far less annoying than Bella Swan. But his new pack isn't happy about him spending time with a normal person. You can see where that's heading.
As I said, if you like "Twilight" then you'll enjoy this. It's a fast-paced, exciting read. And the idea of turning into a panther is pretty cool.
That is all.
Clockwise
Clockwise
by Elle Strauss
(4/5 stars)
I got this book free from Amazon mostly because as a fan of Star Trek, Quantum Leap, The Twilight Zone, and such the concept intrigued me. It was a fun light read, though by the time I got to the end I really couldn't be sure what the point of it was. The story really lacks any dramatic heft. I had worked out the two biggest twists long before they occurred.
In case you're too lazy to read the jacket description, the story is about a teenager named Casey, who like Henry in "The Time Traveler's Wife" seems to have some natural disorder that causes her to go back in time. Only in her case she goes back to 1860. She's been doing this since she was 9 years old. Along the way she's made friends with the Watson family, especially a boy named Willie, but he's a red herring so don't worry about him.
In the 21st Century, Casey worries endlessly about her curly hair, which in true Hollywood fashion, along with her height, makes her completely repulsive to every boy at school. There is the cute quarterback named Nate she has a crush on. Then one day she accidentally takes Nate with her in the past and everything turns upside-side down in her life.
On the scale of female YA heroines, Casey falls somewhere between Bella Swan of "Twilight" and Katniss Everdeen of "The Hunger Games." She's as whiny and insecure as Bella, though she has some hunting skills like Katniss so that she's not a total bore. None of the other characters really come off as anything other than one-dimensional archetypes. For instance, there's her friend Lucinda, but about all I know is she's Casey's friend and has a crush on some guy named Josh. Apparently that's all I need to know about her.
Like many "indie" books this could have used a competent editor to clean up the typos. The dialog formatting especially was atrocious. Sometimes two different characters would speak on the same line. Other times the same character would speak on one line and then the next one too. Compounding the problem is the author hardly ever uses dialog tags, so often I wondered who was speaking.
As I said at the beginning, the story really lacks much in terms of drama. The problems that crop up are dealt with pretty easily. There seemed little in the way of a dramatic arc. By that I never felt the story was really building towards anything, which didn't leave for much of a payoff. It really amounts to girl meets boy, girl and boy travel in time, girl and boy come back but can't express feelings for each other, and so on in that way.
Also as someone who's watched/read plenty of time travel fiction, one thing you really need are consistent rules. The one thing that bugged me was when Casey goes back in time she's wearing her clothes from the 21st Century. She usually ditches these in favor of 19th Century garb. But when she comes back, she's again wearing her 21st Century clothes. This made little sense to me. Did the clothes just reappear? Did they change shape? I mean apparently when she goes back in time she's not leaping into someone else's body like Quantum Leap or a disembodied spirit or anything, so why is it different on the way back? Maybe I'm being overly picky.
Anyway, despite my concerns, the book was a fun read. It would probably be more fun for its target audience--teenage/tweenage girls--which is why I'm rounding it up to four stars. I'm sure they'll get more out of it than a crusty old nerd like me.
That is all.
by Elle Strauss
(4/5 stars)
I got this book free from Amazon mostly because as a fan of Star Trek, Quantum Leap, The Twilight Zone, and such the concept intrigued me. It was a fun light read, though by the time I got to the end I really couldn't be sure what the point of it was. The story really lacks any dramatic heft. I had worked out the two biggest twists long before they occurred.
In case you're too lazy to read the jacket description, the story is about a teenager named Casey, who like Henry in "The Time Traveler's Wife" seems to have some natural disorder that causes her to go back in time. Only in her case she goes back to 1860. She's been doing this since she was 9 years old. Along the way she's made friends with the Watson family, especially a boy named Willie, but he's a red herring so don't worry about him.
In the 21st Century, Casey worries endlessly about her curly hair, which in true Hollywood fashion, along with her height, makes her completely repulsive to every boy at school. There is the cute quarterback named Nate she has a crush on. Then one day she accidentally takes Nate with her in the past and everything turns upside-side down in her life.
On the scale of female YA heroines, Casey falls somewhere between Bella Swan of "Twilight" and Katniss Everdeen of "The Hunger Games." She's as whiny and insecure as Bella, though she has some hunting skills like Katniss so that she's not a total bore. None of the other characters really come off as anything other than one-dimensional archetypes. For instance, there's her friend Lucinda, but about all I know is she's Casey's friend and has a crush on some guy named Josh. Apparently that's all I need to know about her.
Like many "indie" books this could have used a competent editor to clean up the typos. The dialog formatting especially was atrocious. Sometimes two different characters would speak on the same line. Other times the same character would speak on one line and then the next one too. Compounding the problem is the author hardly ever uses dialog tags, so often I wondered who was speaking.
As I said at the beginning, the story really lacks much in terms of drama. The problems that crop up are dealt with pretty easily. There seemed little in the way of a dramatic arc. By that I never felt the story was really building towards anything, which didn't leave for much of a payoff. It really amounts to girl meets boy, girl and boy travel in time, girl and boy come back but can't express feelings for each other, and so on in that way.
Also as someone who's watched/read plenty of time travel fiction, one thing you really need are consistent rules. The one thing that bugged me was when Casey goes back in time she's wearing her clothes from the 21st Century. She usually ditches these in favor of 19th Century garb. But when she comes back, she's again wearing her 21st Century clothes. This made little sense to me. Did the clothes just reappear? Did they change shape? I mean apparently when she goes back in time she's not leaping into someone else's body like Quantum Leap or a disembodied spirit or anything, so why is it different on the way back? Maybe I'm being overly picky.
Anyway, despite my concerns, the book was a fun read. It would probably be more fun for its target audience--teenage/tweenage girls--which is why I'm rounding it up to four stars. I'm sure they'll get more out of it than a crusty old nerd like me.
That is all.
The House on the Corner
The House on the Corner
by Andrew Leon
(3/5 stars)
This starts off like the stereotypical haunted house story. The Howard family (Air Force master sergeant Will, his wife Claire, 12-year-old Tom, 10-year-old Sam, and 6-year-old Ruth) move from Denver to Shreveport, Louisiana. The house they move into is old and spooky-looking with a lot of flaking paint, dusty, and overly large rooms. Some of those rooms have strange things in them. Oh, and the house's last inhabitants disappeared.
So through 40% of the book I kept waiting for there to be the bumps in the night and such that you would expect in a haunted house story. But then the book does a 180 from that and becomes more like "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." There becomes a lot of talk about fairies, Guardians, Towers, wizards, and a magic sword. Which is a little surprising because there are so many Star Wars references.
The book gets much more interesting once that stuff comes into play. Unfortunately at that point there's only 60% off. I think the author bit off more than he could chew at that point. It made for a rushed ending that wasn't extremely satisfying to me.
Also, the book is in dire need of a real editor. A lot of typos. Also, I'm not fond of authors who use the word "suddenly" a lot.
There are still a lot of good things about this book. The first-person narration between Tom, Sam, and Ruth is a little confusing at first but gets easier as it goes on. I liked the kids, especially Sam and Ruth. The relationship between the kids was well-drawn. And once the book really gets going it's hard to put down--or shut off the Kindle.
That is all.
by Andrew Leon
(3/5 stars)
This starts off like the stereotypical haunted house story. The Howard family (Air Force master sergeant Will, his wife Claire, 12-year-old Tom, 10-year-old Sam, and 6-year-old Ruth) move from Denver to Shreveport, Louisiana. The house they move into is old and spooky-looking with a lot of flaking paint, dusty, and overly large rooms. Some of those rooms have strange things in them. Oh, and the house's last inhabitants disappeared.
So through 40% of the book I kept waiting for there to be the bumps in the night and such that you would expect in a haunted house story. But then the book does a 180 from that and becomes more like "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." There becomes a lot of talk about fairies, Guardians, Towers, wizards, and a magic sword. Which is a little surprising because there are so many Star Wars references.
The book gets much more interesting once that stuff comes into play. Unfortunately at that point there's only 60% off. I think the author bit off more than he could chew at that point. It made for a rushed ending that wasn't extremely satisfying to me.
Also, the book is in dire need of a real editor. A lot of typos. Also, I'm not fond of authors who use the word "suddenly" a lot.
There are still a lot of good things about this book. The first-person narration between Tom, Sam, and Ruth is a little confusing at first but gets easier as it goes on. I liked the kids, especially Sam and Ruth. The relationship between the kids was well-drawn. And once the book really gets going it's hard to put down--or shut off the Kindle.
That is all.
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