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Second Star: Calling Peter Pan!

By Brookelorren on February 11, 2019February 11, 20196 Comments

I was recently scanning Netgalley for something soon-to-be released, and I saw Second Star by J.M. Sullivan. Ooh, I know J.M. Sullivan! She’s one of the hosts of #AuthorConfession on Twitter! I always love to read books fantastic people (although I have to confess, it can make writing a review more difficult sometimes).

Second Star by J.M. Sullivan is a Peter Pan retelling. So if you love Peter Pan, then you already have a reason to read this book. I think the story is okay, although I haven’t seen it in years (the Disney cartoon, that is). I’ve seen some of the Peter Pan movies over the years, like Hook, and I’ve never read the original book. Like Heartless, I think you’ll get more out of this retelling if you’re more familiar with the original story.

Our story follows Peter and Wendy. Peter is a mechanic on the Jolly Roger, a star ship out on a mission. Wendy is an intelligent girl whose parents push her to be an overachiever. At the military academy, Wendy seems to develop a crush on the historical James Hooke, a captain who was lost years ago. Eventually, the paths of Hooke, Peter, and Wendy cross on a star far away from Earth.

The Good

Ms. Sullivan does a great job combining the classic Peter Pan tale with a futuristic starship story. There’s Tinc, a nanobot that Peter put together that behaves eerily like Tinkerbell from the classic story, SMEE, who is Captain Hooke’s assistant, the Lost Boys, and even mermaids. The book speaks of themes like immortality (which Hooke is searching after) and there’s even a thimble in there. I probably miss a great deal since I haven’t seen the classic cartoon in eons, but there’s a lot of cleverness in there.

The friendships are great in this book. Wendy seems to be a little difficult to warm up to, but her friends are loyal and she loves them back. I’m glad the kids she became friends with at the academy get to be with her on all of her adventures.

What Could Be Better

While Second Star was very entertaining, it seemed like it could use a little more polish. It’s difficult to describe why I felt this way, although it’s a very subjective measure rather than anything concrete I can point out.

One other thing that I thought could be better is the relationship aspect of this story. The friendships in this book are great, but Wendy and Peter have something of an insta-love that would probably be better if they slowed down a bit. While I could understand if they felt insta-attraction, they were emotionally invested in each other a little too quickly for my taste. There’s the possibility of a love triangle in the second book (I kinda hope not though).

Overall

Second Star was overall entertaining, even though it’s not likely to make any of my best-of lists. I do plan on reading the second book in this series, and not just because J.M. Sullivan wrote it. I want to find out what happens to Peter and Wendy. If you’re only going to read one book this year, I probably wouldn’t choose this one, but if you like Peter Pan or retellings, you might want to consider adding this to your TBR.

Book Settings I’d Like To Visit

By Brookelorren on October 16, 2018October 16, 201834 Comments

It’s Tuesday again, and today’s Top Ten Tuesday Topic is “Bookstores/Libraries I’ve Always Wanted to Visit”. I’ve chosen to do “Book Settings I’d Like to Visit” instead. In case you’re wondering, the bookstores/libraries I’d like to visit include Powell’s Books in Portland (been there but it’s awesome), the National Archives, Library of Congress, and the Vatican library. But back to ten bookish settings:

There are a lot of bookish settings that would absolutely be terrible to visit because they’re always at war or something. But not all of them would be that bad.

The Shire: Who wouldn’t want to visit the Shire? I wouldn’t want to go at some periods of it’s history, but overall, it seems like a nice place. If it looks anything like the movies, it would be gorgeous. I guess the next best thing would be to go to New Zealand. But I’ve never been there either.

Narnia: Narnia would be a lovely place to visit. As long as you went at the right time. I mean, who would want to visit while the White Witch was still reigning and there was an eternal winter (with no Christmas)? It would be cool to see the talking animals and the mythical creatures.

Heaven: The Bible has a lot of places that would be pretty cool to visit. The Garden of Eden would be interesting to see (before that whole fruit thing happened, of course). I probably wouldn’t want to stay very long in any one place, because I probably wouldn’t really like their idea of sanitation, but Heaven would be a pretty cool place to stay for a very long time. We’re supposed to be happy there forever, right?

Tokyo of Warcross: I think it would be pretty cool to visit the Tokyo of Warcross. It would probably be a pretty fun game to play. The virtual overlays over everything would be cool to see as well. I’m not sure that the whole social scoring would be too good in real life (they’re already doing that in China) but other aspects of the game and its leakage into reality would be fun.

The Prairie of Little House: I guess there’s something of a theme in a lot of places I’d like to visit. Imagine the peace and quiet where you could read all of those books! But it would be lovely to visit some of those old-timey places where there weren’t a lot of people around and it was just you and nature.

Prince Edward Island of Anne of Green Gables time: here’s another one of those old-timey places that would be quiet and fun to visit for a bit. I bet it would get pretty cold in the winter though, since it’s so far up north. Maybe I’d only want to visit in the summer. Or I’d want to have extra warm clothes to wear. I get cold pretty easily.

Feudal Japan of Flame in the Mist: We’re going to assume that if I go to visit this place, I’m not going to be a peasant, because that would be no fun at all. But the magical forests and the like would probably be quite beautiful.

Krynn of Dragonlance: While I wouldn’t want to visit Krynn during one of their numerous wars, there were periods of peace in the land’s history (I think). It would be pretty fun to study to be a mage. I imagine they’d have to be Erudite like me, since they always have to read books.

Ireland, of The Wren Hunt: This was a last-minute edition to this post, because I just read it last week. The Wren Hunt is set in modern-day Ireland. Not in a big city or anything, but in a small village. Although the book doesn’t do a lot to describe the surroundings, I’ve seen pictures of Ireland before and I know it’s a beautiful place. So, I’d probably love to visit the setting of this book.

Pacific Crest Trail of Wild: At this point, I’ve gone through my entire read list on Goodreads (there’s a lot of books that I’ve read that aren’t on Goodreads that I don’t remember though) and I still have to come up with one other place. I’d love to visit the Pacific Crest Trail though, which is in the book Wild. I love hiking, and think that this would be a fun thing to do. I’d need new shoes though. Since I walk all day at work, I go through shoes fairly quickly, and am in need of a new pair. Especially if I plan on going on a massive hike like this.

So that’s today’s list. Come back next week when I talk about villains!

Nine Reads for Independence Day (Top Ten Tuesday)

By Brookelorren on July 3, 2018July 2, 201816 Comments

Today’s Top 10 Tuesday list is books with Red, White, and Blue covers, but since I don’t really care about the color of the covers, I thought I’d write about Books to Read on Independence Day instead. These books make me feel blessed to live in the United States or make me feel patriotic for one reason or another. They’re in no particular order. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

I read A Patriot’s History of the United States, by Larry Schweiker, a long time ago. I do remember that it was really good, and I still have it. Someday, I might read it again.

It’s a fairly large book (1000 pages, I think), so you’re not going to read it in one day, but if you’re looking for a pretty good history book of the United States, this is one that I recommend. It covers the time period from Columbus’s discovery of the Americas to the recent present.

I actually didn’t throw in Legend because I think it’s a wonderful book series (although I do think it’s wonderful); there’s actually a reason why I picked this. It’s the one completely fictional book on this list (I thought about Divergent, but that one is set so far into the future that it loses most of its ties to the United States as it is now). The book is set in California in the year 2131. The United States government is no more, and the government that has come to replace it is corrupt. Reading this book makes me thankful for our own government, even though it has it’s own share of problems. It also reminds me of what Benjamin Franklin said when someone asked him what kind of government the people at the Constitutional Convention came up with: “A republic, if you can keep it.” Even though the government in Legend is called The Republic, it’s nothing like a republic should be. If the people of the United States continue to bicker and can’t get along, we might end up with a government like this. ::shudder::

If Never Stop Walking doesn’t make you thankful to be living in the United States (if that’s where you live) or in a safe country where you don’t fear for your life, I don’t know what will. As a child, this lady literally watched her good friend get shot by corrupt police because her friend was a poor street child. There are probably still places where this is going on to this day. Last month, there was an uproar about how the United States is separating children from their parents (which is terrible) but as far as I know, they’re not shooting them. The US does have its problems, but things aren’t this bad, yet (again, a Republic, if you can keep it).

The American Miracle: Divine Providence in the Rise of the Republic, by Michael Medved, tells of all the amazing “coincidences” that took place in the shaping of the American Republic. The book contains several stories about miracles that occurred in the history of the United States. There were miracles in play that led to the pilgrims survival, the survival of George Washington’s army, the freeing of the slaves, and more. Even if you’re fairly well-versed in American history, there may be something in this book that you’re not familiar with.

The Heavenly Man, by Brother Yun, is a book that makes me happy to live in the United States today. Brother Yun was thrown into prison because of his beliefs, and didn’t even have access to a Bible as a kid (he prayed for a Bible and one miraculously came). Freedom to believe in whatever way you want can sometimes cause strife in this country, but I do hope that we can allow people to follow their conscience, even if we disagree. If we live by the attitude of “I wholly disapprove of what you say and will defend to the death your right to say it” maybe we would be better off. Whether that quote was originally made by Voltaire, Patrick Henry, or someone else, doesn’t matter, the sentiment is good. I would think that the sentiment should also apply to freedom to live according to your dictates (as long as they’re not hurting anybody).

It’s a shame that The Five Thousand Year Leap isn’t available in print any more (it’s still available in ebook form though). The founding fathers didn’t just pull their ideas out of their butts… the ideas behind the United States republic had been fomenting in civilization for thousands of years before they were put into practice. The ideas that were put into the Constitution changed the world. I recommend this book if you are interested in finding out how revolutionary and amazing the concepts behind the founding of the US really are.

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy is one of the three books on this list that center on Nazi Germany during World War II. World War II was such a traumatic period in our world’s recent history, and its lessons should not be forgotten. Bonhoeffer could have saved himself; he was living in the United States after he knew about the dangers that Hitler presented, but he went back to Germany anyway. His courage is inspirational even today. We could use more people that will see evil for what it is and still have the courage to speak out against it.

I believe that In the Garden of Beasts is slightly fictional, but it’s based on real events. This is the second book of the three set in Nazi Germany. It’s important to know what the world was like as Adolph Hitler came into power, because it’s not something that we want to see again. This book is about an American ambassador and his family that were living in Nazi Germany as Hitler rose to power. It’s amazing to see how the transformation took place. I read it once, but I’ll probably read this one again someday.

Defying Hitler, a memoir by Sebastian Haffner, is the third Nazi Germany book on this list. This book is powerful because it is a first-hand account of someone that lived through the Weimar Republic and the rise of Hitler. It is unfinished, because Haffner moved out of Germany before things got too bad and never managed to finish the book, but his recollections of what happened to his friends and even his time in a Nazi propaganda camp are worth reading. It’s a shame that he didn’t end up writing more.

So here are nine books to read if you want to feel a little glad to be living in the United States today (and several of these are good reads if you don’t live in the US but live in modern society).

Local Lunedi: Library 21C

By Brookelorren on January 9, 2017January 9, 2017Leave a Comment

One of the views from Colorado Springs — In Colorado Springs, you can sometimes see Air Force flybys, as pictured here, or visit Library 21C.

There are a lot of great places that you can visit in the world, and there are probably also a lot of really great places in your own backyard as well.

I’d like to review some of the places that you can visit sometimes. I’ve lived in Colorado Springs for a little over two years now, and of course, I’ve lived in other places that you can visit, so on some Mondays, I’d like to review some of them. If you don’t live in these places, maybe they won’t be interesting to you right now, but if you ever visit, then you can check out the review.

There’s never a bad time to check out a book from the library. There’s always something to read. Library 21C is probably my favorite library (we might as well start with the best, right?).

Library 21C’s biggest strength is its technology. They have tons of things that you wouldn’t normally associate with the library of your childhood there. You can find 3D printers (open to the public at certain hours if you take a class and learn how to use them), computers, gaming machines, and other technologies. They teach classes on all sorts of technologically-related classes. They even have fitness classes! You can visit their web site for the latest details.

The library has quite a few meeting rooms that your group or organization can sign up for. They range in size and some have different capabilities. Many have whiteboards and large computer monitors. You can also check out equipment to use when you are borrowing the meeting rooms, like dry erase markers and erasers.

The main downside of this library is that it doesn’t have a LOT of books. While there are areas with books for children, teens, and adults, a lot of the space that is often reserved for books in a library is packed with all this great technology. Not to worry though: Library 21C is part of the Pike’s Peak Library District, and you can have any of the books in this library system reserved and brought to this library for you to pick up. You do have to think ahead if you want a book that’s kept at a different library, but that’s a small drawback for all the advantages that this library has. You can always check out digital books at any time (without even leaving your house). The library also has a nice variety of new books if you’re interested in browsing newer releases.

So if you’ve moved to Colorado Springs recently or are here visiting and want to spend a relaxing day of reading, you might want to check out Library 21C.