I picked up Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs for three reasons. 1) I was going on vacation and wanted something to read, 2) I had heard a lot favorable talk about the book at the conference, 3) It was on sale when I passed. I can never pass up a bargain paperback that has people talking.
The story centers around Jacob who enjoys the fanciful stories his grandfather tells him as a child. When he was young Jacob believed they were true but as he grew older he doubted the stories. Then as he became a teenager he began to see, with his father’s help, that the grandfather’s stories about monsters, powerful friends, and idyllic orphans home were metaphorical for the tragic childhood he he’d had as an orphan Jewish child fleeing the Nazis. Then grandfather is killed with Jacob finding the man in his last moments. His grandfather’s words haunt him, were the stories really metaphors. Jacob goes to the island of his grandfather’s orphanage to learn the truth of the tales and just what killed his grandfather.
This is a heroic fantasy with all the traditional unknowing hero comes of age elements. I wish I could say there were surprises in the plot but there weren’t. If you’ve read comics, seen Star Wars, or brush up on the Harry Potter series you know what’s coming from the start. It’s one of the classic tales that Perseus himself tread in Greek tales. So I was disappointed in the slow pace of the novel. Every hero needs an origin story but for me the full reveal took too long and the facing the first big bad boss guy was rush as a result.
That said the concept of taking found antique photos and weaving them together to make a story was unique and intriguing. At times it feel he was working too hard to fit a favorite photo into the narrative but others it flowed nicely. Some were prefect fits for the narrative but others were a stretch. The paperback edition I had (I have linked to it in the title up there) included some images that didn’t make the cut. I was inspired to look through the old photo collection I have from genealogy research to see if there were any ‘peculiars’ in my family tree.
What I enjoyed the most about the book was the writing. Ransom Riggs can turn a phrase with a lovely modern twist. His voice as a writer was pleasant to read. I enjoyed it so much I got up from our room’s balcony over the pleasant Caribbean sea to get a highlighter to mark the ones that stood out to me as a writer. I read the rest of the book with the highlighter at hand. Despite a very familiar plot and pacing short comings I enjoyed reading merely for the voice of the writer. I haven’t had such pleasure reading the written word since I finished George R. R. Martin’s Fevre Dream(his best work IMHO).
Overall I enjoyed the book and found it perfect for the vacation read. I liked it well enough to pick up the sequel Hollow City possibly for my next vacation in July.
If you are interested in what I’m reading now or want to see what I have waiting to read you can visit my GoodReads page. If you have an account there by all means friend me! I’m new there. I didn’t even try to list the books I own or have read. (Though I did spend a fun evening reminiscing about books I have read and checking them off. I find a few I put on my to read list this way.) I just started with this one and will carry forward. If you have any suggestions of titles I might enjoy let me know.
How I came to this book is through research. I am looking into the various creepy crawlies of various cultures folklore. I asked a friend that was raised in Russia about Russian folklore. She gave me The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia to read before we discuss it.
I have to admit that once I started this it was a page turner. It’s set in modern times but draws on the legend of pre-revolution and revolutionary Russia. Heck we even see Soviet Russian fall into legend.
The story is bleak much like what I’ve been led to believe is the traditional Russian outlook. I found it interesting to hear how the average person felt about the Soviet fall. Before the fantasy part comes forward in this urban fantasy we get a glimpse into post-Soviet Moscow.
The heroes and villains of the fantasy segment are all new to me and fascinating. I especially liked Koschei the Deathless. He was a very intriguing fellow. One-eyed Likho was intriguing and very creepy. Also the November Revolutionists Wife Marya Morevna was a more modern myth that was elegant and tough.
Overall the story was fast paced and kept me turning the page to see what happens next. The ending was very fitting for the story and we learn why people were turning into Jackdaws including the main character’s sister.
The only thing I found distracting was the over use of the ‘said’ tag. I noticed it early on and at times became distracted by it. Maybe it was an artifact of bad editing after translation. One of the first thing in writing is learning that said is dead in dialogue. There are many ways to indicate who is speaking. Often you don’t need to indicate but the flow of conversation between two will naturally do it.
I recommend this book to get a view from Russian eyes. It’s an urban fantasy that’s got a unique perspective this book is for you.
Let’s start by saying I love everyone of Mary Roach’s books. I discovered her at her second book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and have anxiously awaited the release of every one since then. Gulp: Adventures On the Alimentary Canal is her latest offering. I wasn’t so sure that it would be as interesting as her others but knowing that she can face the most uncomfortable subjects with child-like fascination asking the questions we all ponder but don’t know who to ask. Mary finds the specialist that can seriously answer those questions. Then she brings the answers down to the common man level.
Before I go on I have a confession followed by a recommendation. I have never actually READ any of Mary’s books. Instead I’ve enjoyed them on audio books. Yes I started with Stiff and went back to Spook then awaited the release on audio for all the following books. Each reader brings Roach’s every man narration to life, not overly deadpanning the funny aspects tackled in each book nor over playing the amusement. They keep in respectful but inquisitive with slight amusement that they are asking a flatulence expert if food changes the composition of farts or watching nice grandmas make sex toys.
Now to her current topic – how food makes it from mouth to anus and what happens to it on the way. Okay go ahead make the bathroom jokes, but honestly spend time with the very young or the retired elimination will be a topic of discussion. Watch tv note all the stuff hocked that addresses unpleasant passage along the alimentary canal from anti-acids to laxatives/anti-diarrhea medication. We are a society that is consumed by what happens to what we consume but embarrassed to talk about it.
What makes Roach’s books so enjoyable is the fact she’ll acknowledge societal taboos but ask the questions any way. Not only that she introduces us to quirky but delightful specialists to answer those questions. From the Italian Dr. that specializes in studying saliva and its various types – to the team that studies human poop consistency. She attends a party where all the foods are poop texture themed from chocolate covered bananas to chocolate shakes.
The humorous moments lighten the times where horrific issues are discussed. The affliction of mega-colon that can be a side effect of not being born with enough muscles to evacuate properly. Elvis was a famous person who suffered from this. Then there’s the matter of fact account of a poop transplant. Yep you read this right a poop transplant. Take a person who poops well – frequently, good evacuation, good consistency, etc. and get a sample of poop. Then there’s a person who has issues – irritable bowel, frequent going due to damage to the gut flora from say chemo. Transplant the good processed poop via a colonoscopy. Then in a few days, yes just days, the good flora from the good pooper has bloomed and the bad pooper is cured. Sometimes the simplest ideas with the least invasiveness work the best. Sure social taboos about other’s poop come into play but honestly if you have been through cancer or irritable bowl, a colonoscopy for a cure is so simple. Yet, as it stands insurance doesn’t cover it. The poop team is working to change this.
I think Roach summed it up in the start of the book. She stated she hoped your first reaction of “oooh that’s a gross subject” is quickly overcome by “oh this IS interesting!” Basically that sums up most of her career with the exception of Packing For Mars take on topics with their own taboos – death, corpses, sex – with a great scientific eye, honest curiosity, and a fantastic talent to find the right person to ask. Even in Packing For Mars she asks the questions we ponder “What if there’s a personality clash in space? Have fights happened?” or “How did astronauts poop before the space toilet installed?” and so on.
One other thing I’ll tip my hat to Mary Roach for doing – trying it herself. From the butt alignment camera on a space toilet to sex with her husband in an MRI to collecting her spit with a specialist – Mary’s game to participate in her own research. This adds great depth, insight, and humor to her own writing.
At the end of Gulp I had a new appreciation for how my own body takes food and turns it into me and getting rid of the rest. People are fascinating, awe inspiring beings from what ever makes us US and if that survives death to how our magnificent bodies function and malfunction to our aspirations to travel among the stars. When I finish one of Roach’s books I am always in awe for humanity and feel pleasantly educated about just how awesome each and every one of us is.
If you’ve not discovered her books – get thee to the library, store, or audible now! You are in for a treat!
Have you ever thought ‘why can’t I do this? it’s so simple!’ or when someone points out a simple better approach to a problem ‘why didn’t I think of that?’ or wonder why some days you can bust the problem of the day but others you are stymied by three simple problems? Well in this book David Rock explains the answers to those questions and much more.
No he doesn’t tell you how to think. Instead he takes the latest neurological understanding of how our brains operate and puts it in every day terms. He makes so we understand what the limitations and the strengths. He then takes normal every day situations and applies what science has learned. There are two takes to each scene. The first is how I’d do it if I were in that situation. No, Rock didn’t interview me but instead took the typical approach of an adult to real world situations. Then he explains what the brain was doing and why we think it works that way. Finally he redoes the scene taking the new information into account.
I was amazed at what I learned. First off just what a power (glucose) monster the brain is! Really, all these years when I’ve complained of mental fatigue I was right. Next how to approach layered problems by grouping things before approaching them. Prefrontal cortex is where we do our fresh thinking. It’s the most powerful part of the brain, the most energy hungry, and surprisingly the most limited. It’s a serial processor. He illustrates it well in the start of this talk from 2009.
Actually that talk is just a glimpse into what the book is about. I found the book more entertaining and of course more informative. No disrespect to his talk, it’s great but there is much more room in the book to go into more detail. Oh and the applying things to everyday life helped me immensely.
I always wondered how things became easier as we did them. No I get that practice makes perfect but how does it make perfect. Why is it the first time I drive to a job getting there consumes me but three months down the road I can listen to a book on tape and get there just fine without thinking about it. Or when I learn a new crochet stitch – I’m consumed in getting it right, reciting the steps as I do them but a week later I’m doing it while watching TV and chatting with Mike. What happened? Well, the short answer is the activity moved from the prefontal cortex to deeper regions of the brain that don’t require so much of the body or myself to run.
There’s a lot of information in this book. I’ve already started using some of the tips and mastering them. I know that if I read it or listen to it again (I got the audiobook version now too) I’ll pick up new steps to try. It’s the kind of book that you process in layers, and now I know why startling new things are like that.
I heartily recommend it to everyone who has a brain and wants to use it. Until next time!
I’m always looking for a good book series. I enjoy watching characters develop. I guess that’s why I still enjoy comic books. I keep my ears open for new series to try. Generally, speaking the first book of a series that’s intended to be a series is one of the weaker books because it sets up the world, the characters, plot lines to carry for many books, and an episodic plot. That’s a lot to get done in about 300 pages. So if a series can grab me in the first one I figure it’s a keeper.
The Anatomist’s Apprentice by Tessa Harris is the first book of the Dr. Thomas Silkstone mysteries. It’s set in England during King George III’s reign, during our Revolution here in the states. Anatomy was a newish science and our hero Dr. Silkstone is burgeoning into forensic science. He’s treading new territory about the time Vidocq, the father of modern forensic thought, was being born. He attempts to determine not just the cause of death but the method of murder or should I say murders. The initial one leads to a few more all needing to be solved.
There are enough twists, red herrings, and dead ends to keep the reader guessing. The story has a great pace to build interest without being rushed or lagging. I have to say I enjoyed it very much and will be reading the second book The Dead Shall Not Rest.
Even though I enjoyed the book there were a few issues with the book that threw me out of the story as a reader. The first was remembering it was set in the Georgian era not the Victorian era. For me take away a few references to tricron hats, powdered wigs, Colonies in revolt, and men in stockings and the setting was perfectly Victorian. Actually it seemed more so than Georgian, from medical school operations, to newspapers frequency, to conversational phrasing, to servants mannerisms and so on. The feel was off so I gave up ignored the few dropped hints that it was the 1700s and imagined it in the 1800s.
The second issue was head hopping. You see in a scene you can only be in one person’s head. If you keep hopping about from inner thoughts to inner thoughts it gets confusing. The few times in one scene where we jump from his head to her head and back I was totally out of the scene and confused. Inside one head per scene please!
The third was events seemed to be known before they were known. I can’t think of specific examples but I do remember at least twice thinking “Hmm, we know that? How did I miss that?” Then shortly after that we do come to know it. As I writer I recognize this as forgetting to clean up moving a scene. It happens and a good editor will kick it back to you to fix.
Finally the fourth and to me the biggest one – don’t play your hero of the series to be stupid. There’s a scene where he explains how a unique poison works. Then right after that the very person who gave him the sample – has the systems of the poison but dammit he doesn’t notice. It takes too long for him to put it together when as a reader I was shouting it at him. YOU JUST DESCRIBED THIS HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE IT?!?
Honestly I put the others on the editor’s shoulders. A great editor takes a story and helps the writer make it the best it can be. Unless there’s a reason to have it in the 1700s a few snips and it’s fitting the feel. Head hopping is something editors are always harping upon and looking for changes in the point of view (POV). Writers tend to do it when creating because we are trying to account for everyone and their motivations so their movements hold true. Decent editors get it out very quickly. I’ve already addressed the rewrite remnants of what is known when. So I think it’s a good strong story with weak editing.
Those are mostly small things, some are just writer hang-ups. Still if it’s stuff that will bug you be warned it’s there but the story is strong enough to get through it. If you don’t notice these things or they don’t bother you, then you’re in for a fun read.
I discovered the Dresden files when he was on book 5 Death Masks. I liked it so much my next vacation at the beach I read books 1-4 in a week. I’ve kept up with them since then. I generally devour them the week they are released. I love the audiobooks too. James Marsters does a great job reading them except Ghost Story which was read by John Glover. Well Cold Days is book 17 and Ghost Story was book 16.
In the last book Harry was for all intensive purposes a ghost. Which was interesting but being in that state it took away one of his traits that I like so much – the ability to kick ass in any kind of fight. Yes when you are all wispy you can’t toss spells around or throw punches or use any weapons. So the fun underdog wins the battle part of the typical entry in the series was gone. **SIGH** I did miss it but in this book Jim Butcher made up for it by a final battle that was chapters long. I kid you not CHAPTERS long.
You see due to some technicalities Harry has his body back. Now he also is the human knight to the winter queen who happens to be the faerie Queen Mab of legend. She’s always been a terrifying presence on the edge of Harry’s life. Since the books are written in first person the only view we get of her and others is through Harry’s perspective. He’s always seen her as a malevolent character. Even at the start of the story when she’s personally over seeing his physical rehab by trying to kill him each day – she’s not seen as a wonderful benefactress. Yet as this story unfolds there are things we learn about her that make her more sympathetic. She has a large weight of responsibility to the real world both mundane and magic that Harry (and thus we) weren’t aware. Also in a private moment we learn the Queen like all fae folk was once human. Fae are born as halflings and have to choose which side they will take, just how or when the choice is usually made we aren’t told. We do see one halfling be forced into a side but it’s an extraordinary circumstance made by battle and insanity of courtly fae that sets up the situation.
I have to say I like glimpsing the magical beings but my heart lies with the magical humans like what Harry was when he was just a wizard. This story spends a good amount of time in the Winter Court in Never Never which is the magical realm occupied by the fae. Not my favorite setting in Dresden. I don’t mind the White Court, vampires in Chicago as much as I do the Never Never. I guess that’s because what brought me into Dresden was the concept of a wizard private investigator. We’re far from that now but the roots of seeing the magic world in the mundane is what I loved. I didn’t want to live all in magic in this urban fantasy – when we do it’s just fantasy and that’s way down my genre list from urban fantasy. I’m a picky reader I know but hey there is so much out there I have to be. Only so many reading hours per life ya know.
What I did enjoy in this book was the return of action. Dresden isn’t just his bad self again – he’s his bad self augmented by the Winter Knight mantel and Queen Mab’s daily attempted murder training sessions. So he can really kick ass as seen when the final battle rages for a quarter of the book. Ya know I kinda think Jim Butcher missed writing the action too. As much as I was glad to have it back, even I – the action glutton – thought this was a bit much. Still it was fun but didn’t touch reanimating Sue the T-Rex to ride her through Chicago to get to the big supernatural battle though. Nope that’s still my happy geek moment in the Dresden Files.
The other thing that was good to see back was Molly. She’s not the terrified, tortured, homeless waif we saw in the last book. Actually we learn why she was being trained so harshly by Harry’s godmother. Molly is now a not just a good wizard in her own right but a a powerful one. She works as a full team member without any issues on Harry’s part, except well the effects of the Winter Knight but I’ll let you discover that for yourself. To see the team back together – Butters, Molly, Thomas, Karrin, and Bob along with Toot-Toot!!! (I adore Toot-toot!) working together to solve all the emergencies that are colliding at the same time. It’s wonderful to see them and awesome to see the characters have grown.
That is why I’m okay that it’s not a series about a PI who is a wizard in Chicago any more. The characters out grew it. Every character including Bob have grown and changed given the stories that have happened and the time passed. That’s why I can keep coming back, it’s formula with growth. That’s why I don’t miss the PI stuff but I do miss Chicago. I want Harry back there not living off in fantasy land. That’s all.
I love how threads and points from earlier books are paid off here in this story. We learn more about Harry’s island Demonreach and what his role is with it. We learn why Harry’s godmother was frozen in Mab’s garden in a past book. We learn more about the Outsiders. More about the structure and nature of the fae’s courts. So it’s a big world expander that ties up some things.
All in all it took me a day and half to read, yes it was a page turner. I loved it and am left waiting at least a year to find out how the heck Harry gets out of being the Winter Knight without being a ghost for real the next time. I suspect Santa Claus and Demonreach will have a hand in helping him with this one. Yes you read that right Santa Claus – he’s the Winter King don’t ya know. Oh and he’s more if you read the subtle clues in the final scene where he chats with Harry after the huge battle. Hint – brush up on the pre-Christian origins of our jolly one in red.
If you’ve not been introduced to Dresden Files let me have the honor of highly recommending them. You can’t go wrong starting at the beginning in book or in audio book and working your way through. It’ll be an adventurous action filled ride that leaves you longing for the next one. I just warn you when you get here to book 17 Cold Days it’s gonna be a long wait for the next one -but it’s coming!
As I sat down to write this I thought who am I to review Stephen King a modern master of the novel?
As a writer, no one was the first answer. As a writer I study him for some of the best example of modern description. Short quick phrases that set the scene and help keep the action moving. He’s a master at it. I’ve heard it called Blitzkrieg characterization. How he moves from type of tone and genres in 11/22/63 is masterful. As a writer I’ve not got a leg to stand on and offer any judgement.
As a reader, I stand upon a mountain of books read over a lifetime of loving story. I’m in a strong position as a reader to comment on what I like and don’t like. I read multiple books at a time across multiple genres of fiction and non-fiction. So I figure I’m in a good place as a reader to offer my comments on King’s latest novel 11-22-63. It’ll be on that stance I’ll make comments.
11-22-63 left me in an odd place as a reader – I wanted more or less story. When I finished I was very unsatisfied despite it being a long 849 pages. This story blends genres. It’s publicized to be about going back in time to attempt to stop the assassination of Kennedy. Along the way to the point of the story it visits the territories of sci-fi, horror, alternate history, and romance. I’m not against blending genres but the only one I thought that got a full story arc was the romance, the other aspects of the story were left feeling unfinished for me.
I’ll be the first to admit as a reader the genre of this blend I like the least is romance. I loved it as a teenager but my taste changed. So during the pages of romance and lyrical waxing on the two lovebirds jitterbugging – I was bored, bored, bored and wondered when the heck were we going to return to the sci-fi of time travel, or the horror of the It creature, or start the alternate history of interfering with Oswald? Instead I was stuck in an overly sentimentalized non-existent Texas town reading a romance.
As for the sci-fi part I wanted to know more about Al, the man who discovered time travel and developed the mission the main character Jake/George carries out. I wanted to see how the rules were figured out by Al. I wanted to know more about his diner’s relationship with the phenomena he found. I was frustrated because King broke the first rule – don’t tell show. We were told the rules of time travel and I wanted to see how they were discovered.
As for the horror part I liked the references to the It creature by starting the story out in the middle of the It story. Having read the novel long ago I recognized Pennywise and a few of the characters in the town. Carrying Pennywise forward in the story and linking him with the assassination by suggestion was great! I wanted to know how this dark force was related to Oswald! But alas that thread was never completed. I liked how it was going but once the event of interfering with the assassination started that was pushed aside and forgotten. I closed the book thinking – so what the hell did Pennywise have to do with it? Was it just pages and pages of a distraction?
Then there’s one of my favorites – alternate history! I thought surely with a book about time travel to stop with the Kennedy assassination I’d get some alternate history either way the mission went. If Jake/George is successful or not he’s change history in many ways waiting out the years to get to the event, just like Al had to change it in his discoveries. Just like the green card man explained to Jake/George (a second case of telling NOT showing). As a reader I got a glimpse of what the mission did to the future but not HOW it did it in the third case of telling not showing. The bulk of the book was eaten up by getting to the assassination and the ending was rushed. The alternate history was short changed. I didn’t get to live the world after the interference with the main event, the whole thrust of the plot – instead I glimpsed it and was told the payoff that I’d waded through 100s of pages of romance to see.
Finally the fatal flaw for me was Jake/George’s supposed worry about effecting history before the event? Heck you are setting out to change a lynch pin event in history who cares if you start that change a few years earlier? You are changing ALL OF TIME AFTER THE INTERFERENCE FOR ALL ETERNITY what does a few years, heck decades, heck even centuries matter? There’s eternity on the other side of the mission! Unknown-illions of lives from 1963 to the end of time shifted – what’s a few billion changed for less than a decade matter in balance with that? His reasoning doesn’t make sense. Sure it’s fun to stalk about the edges of Oswald’s life for years but that’s not why I picked up the book. I picked up the book on the promise of time-travel interfering with the Kennedy assassination and for me what happens after that.
I also didn’t pick up the book to read an idyllic look at small town America in the late 50s early 60s. I felt the touching on the social ills was there just to give a nod to the modern reader. Yeah I know it was a time when women weren’t liberated, black were segregated, and domestic abuse wasn’t seen as a police but rather a family matter. After a few periphery nods he goes on with the almost “Leave It To Beaver” tone of the story. Sure there are dark events but they all pull together, have a talent show, and deal with them as a white happy community! I choked back my barf and pressed on hoping for more time travel mission.
When I closed the book I spent a long time thinking about why I felt disappointed as a reader. What would have made me happier with the story – the answer was an odd one. Either make it a series of books covering Al’s adventures through Jake/George through the alternate history and end with Jake/George telling us how it ended. So one answer was give me more so I’m not left hanging on these issues that felt unfinished. Second sell it as a romance with some time travel mission to it and cut down the first part of the book. Third keep it as a time travel book cut Pennywise, romance, and tighten the focus. Fourth make it a pure genre not a blend. King’s best books have been that way in my opinion as a King reader.
So as a reader I walked away with too many questions to call it a great read, it was a good read. As a writer I’ve learned look for plot holes have beta readers look for unanswered questions, know when to cut threads out if you can’t tie them up at the end. I think my biggest lesson as a writer is that genres exist to satisfy the reader – so that the book has focus and the reader can get the full story. Successful blending of genres means you answer all the plot elements you raise be they sci-fi, horror, alternate history, or romance.
In the end I’d quiz someone about what are they looking for in a read before I’d recommend they open this book. It has a lot to offer as most stories by masterful writers do – but it’s not perfect.
We all have our indulgences when it comes to reading and movies. There are those we enjoy but aren’t exactly proud to say we love ’em. Back in high school I was a typical girl in that I was a fan of romances. I thought the movie A Place In Time was just dreamy! The flavor I enjoyed the most was Gothic Romance or Period Romances – it they had a bit of mystery to them all the better! I read Jane Eyre multiple times. I think I went through all the Victoria Holt novels in the local library and started in on the novels under Eleanor Hibbert‘s other pen names. Her writing consistency still inspires me as a writer but I out grew my fondness for romances.
Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria hold available here
It was the 80’s and the corny action films were the hottest thing. I developed a like for them. Why I laughed my way through Expendables 2 was the fun of a time past but still celebrated. In reading I got into thrillers because I enjoyed the challenge of working out the plot before the protagonist and the action. John Grisham’s The Firm was a favorite or later add a paranormal twist to it in Dean Koontz’s The Face or Jim Butcher’s Dresden Series.
My popcorn reading and moving watching now moved from romance to action. I enjoy listening to audiobooks as I go about daily activities. I’m not as much a music person any more as a spoken word person. When searching for a new action series for my ears I stumbled upon Patient Zero by Jonathon Maberry. It is full on action that’s for sure, centering around Joe Ledger a cop that comes to lead a tactical anti-terrorist team for the fictional Department of Military Science (DMS). This book centered on a threat of germ warfare – using a specially tailored disease as a zombifying weapon. The DMS rushes to stop it. There is a love interest in it that’s secondary to the main story, which I’m not averse to seeing. It’s fast paced action which is great when biking or walking the dog and fantastic to speed up house cleaning.
The Dragon Factory by Jonathan Mayberry available here.
When it was over I was please to see that it was a series centered around the missions and adventures of Joe Ledger. I moved on to the second novel The Dragon Factory which centered on genetic engineering. Yes they wanted to make super soldiers and more! Again the DMS raced to stop the threat. It was a rollicking action packed novel that I enjoyed very much.
I have to admit I’m not a one book person. Sure I’ve got an audiobook going but I also read the printed word. Usually one or two of those type novels going. This time I lagged a bit getting into the next Joe Ledger installment while I caught up on the printed side. Then I delved into the third novel King of Plagues. Again Joe & his team faced bio-terrorism but with a twist of blackmail and betrayal coupled with outright terrorism – the story opens with the bombing of the London Hospital leaving thousands dead. The book gave me what I came for – a fast pace, action, and thrills. I am looking forward to the next in the series Assassin’s Code followed by The Extinction Machine.
King of Plagues by Jonathan Mayberry is available here.
These aren’t the most beautifully written works. Though genre doesn’t block the ability to have a beautifully written piece check out George R R Martin’s Fevre Dream for horror that is beyond well written that it falls into beautiful prose (for my buck it’s his best exceeding Game of Thrones). Still Joe Ledger has plot holes – just like my favorite action flicks do from Die Hard to Skyfall but if the action is good enough I’ll forgive them to go along for the ride. BUT these aren’t hideously written like some wildly popular series I tried to read to see what the fuss was about – but my red pen itch was too much after the third page I quit. Life is too short to read bad writing that wasn’t corrected by a competent editor. If you and your editor haven’t mastered the elementary basics of English grammar, I won’t waste my time. With Jonathan Maberry you don’t have to worry about this. It’s solid, clean writing that fits the main character and makes a great foundation for page turning action.
My concern about the series it that the threats seem to all be bio-hazard related. This can become trite and overly formula that it kicks me out of the story or another aspect of the plot is brought more to the forefront to cover this fact. This is what knocked me out of the House series years before it ended. It became too formula and the romance part moved to the forefront. I’m not a romance fan any more as the main plot line. I enjoyed two to three years of House and no matter where Joe Ledger goes I’ll have enjoyed three fun action novels. All in all I can’t complain too much, but you know me I can always finding something to fret over or kvetch about.
Mary Louise Eklund 