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The House of One Thousand Eyes is an Important Book

By Brookelorren on Leave a Comment

The House of One Thousand Eyes coverI was recently given the opportunity to read The House of One Thousand Eyes by Michelle Barker, in exchange for an honest review.  This is an important book to read, especially if you are unfamiliar with the days when the Soviet Union and East Germany existed.

The House of One Thousand Eyes is set in East Germany in the year 1983.  Back in those days, there were informants in East Germany everywhere.  You never knew who you could trust.  The German secret police, or Stasi, could scoop you up and take you to prison, or make you disappear completely.  As an aside, I recently was watching a video on security and privacy where they mentioned that the Stasi would sometimes go into a person’s house and move things around just to mess with them and make them think they were crazy.  This was a place where real repression happened.

Our protagonist, Lena, spent some time in a mental hospital prior to the beginning of the book.  Her uncle, Erich, is a well-known writer.  One day, he just disappears.  Throughout the book, Lena tries to find out what happened to him.  We follow her investigation as she works as a cleaning lady at Stasi headquarters.  As we read the book, we find out what she found.

The book was enjoyable, but it wasn’t my favorite.  I’m sure that there are people that will like this book more than I did, but I probably will not reread this book.  This book is a book that is important more than anything else.  I can’t think of any other fiction written during this time period, but I believe that it is more important than ever for people to know what happened there.

What I Liked About the Book

The book was well-written, and the characters were interesting.  From what I know about East Germany at the time, I think that the things that happened (people disappearing, people ordering things and not getting them for eons, etc.) were realistically portrayed.  I liked the use of German, and especially German slang used in the country at the time.  The book had some suspenseful parts where I found myself trying to read as fast as possible because I wanted to find out what happened.

What I Didn’t Like About the Book

I think that I’m the only person that I’ve seen review this book so far that didn’t think that it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.  While I did like it, I didn’t think it was as über-wonderful as some people did.  The main character, Lena, didn’t exactly make the smartest decisions.  I find it difficult to believe that someone growing up in East Germany would be as dense as she was when it came to asking questions about her uncle after he disappeared.  As she was investigating what happened to her uncle, she seemed to be a little more foolhearty than most people in her situation would be.  When she has to make an important decision about her future towards the end of the book, I find it difficult to believe that she makes the decision that she did.

Trigger Warnings

While this book is being marketed as a YA book, I don’t believe that this book is really appropriate for younger YA readers.  Lena is sexually assaulted on multiple occasions, by the same person; the attacks get worse throughout the book.  I didn’t particularly like this part of the book, although I do realize that it is probably a realistic portrayal of the way things could have happened.

Overall…

The House of One Thousand Eyes is a book that you should consider reading, especially if you are unfamiliar with the time before the Berlin Wall fell down.  We are in a time period where our privacy is becoming less and less and the power of the state is increasing.  It’s good to read books like this in order to understand what could happen if a country became this powerful and overbearing.  While it wasn’t the best book I’ve read this month so far, it was good for me to have read it.

Another book about East Germany that you may be interested in is Deep Undercover by Jack Barsky.  That book is nonfiction and deals with an East German spy that went to America, but it’s also a good book to read as he continually had to deal with his handlers back in the Communist world.  That book was one of my favorites from last year.

This book will be released on September 11th, but it is available for pre-order now.

Use of Force Was Not My Favorite

By Brookelorren on Leave a Comment

I recently read Brad Thor’s Use of Force, which is a good book, but was not one of my favorites.  The Kindle version of the book was $1.99, which was a good deal.  I’m not sure if I would have wanted to pay the normal full price for this book, but it did provide a few good hours of entertainment.

The book deals with terrorism, ISIS, and the recent refugee crisis, which makes the story interesting.  I enjoyed the main storyline of Use of Force, where the main character, Scot Harvath, was trying to track down the bad guys.  This part of the story was paced well, and was enjoying.  I also liked how the story took place partly during Burning Man, which made the book even more timely.

I normally enjoy Brad Thor’s books, but this one was not my favorite.  There were several chapters devoted to a battle that Harvath and his team fought against some of the terrorists, which some people might find interesting, but it didn’t really capture my interest.  There was another subplot where a good-guy-turned-bad-guy tried to go after some of Scot Harvath’s coworkers; it didn’t particularly grab my attention.  There was another subplot regarding a medical condition with one of the regular characters; it wasn’t resolved in this book, but if you read the entire series, it might add interest to the series.

Use of Force is an interesting book; however, if I was only going to read one Brad Thor book, it wouldn’t be my first choice.  I tend to enjoy his books, but there are other books that he’s done that I have liked more.

Echoes Worth Reading Reading Reading

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I recently had the opportunity to read Echoes, by Alice Reeds, in exchange for an honest review.  I enjoyed it quite a bit.  It is different than a lot of books out there, but that doesn’t make it any less readable.

Our main characters, Fiona and Miles, are going on an internship in Berlin.  They never have liked each other, and Fiona, at least, is not very excited at the prospect of working with him.  That’s where everything goes awry.  They find themselves stranded on a desert island with each other.  Alone.  Or do they?

The story goes back and forth between two timelines.  In one, Fiona and Miles are stranded on the deserted island.  In the other, the two are running for their lives in Berlin.  While I was reading it, I started to ask myself, how do these two timelines intersect?  After reading this book, I actually still don’t know.  The answer is still mysterious.

Over the course of the story (in both timelines) Fiona and Miles start to actually *gasp* like each other.  As they get to know each other, they discover that they’re both not quite what the other person expected.  I found that Miles was the more reasonable person here, although I can see where Fiona was coming from.  I won’t go over the details of why they originally developed an animosity towards each other in the first place, as that is explained in the book.

The world that Fiona and Miles are visiting is well set up.  During the Berlin scenes, I can tell that Ms. Reeds has actually been to Berlin, or at least went through the city virtually using google street view.  I have recently been working on a story where the characters are going through locations that I am familiar with, and the details that Ms. Reeds gives in her Berlin scenes are just as knowledgeable as the ones that I am writing about places that I am familiar with.

There is also some German in this book.  I happen to speak German, so I really like that aspect of the story, but if you don’t speak German, the surrounding context explains what it means.  Fiona doesn’t speak German either.  There is also one line of Russian in this story (I also speak some Russian).  Again, Fiona doesn’t speak Russian, and the story explains what it means.

Despite this being a really strange story, I liked it a lot.  I couldn’t put it down.  The book went with me everywhere, all day long, and only put it down when I had to do those pesky life things.  I read the first chapter before I went to bed one night, and finished it the next evening.

The ending makes me think that there should be another story in this series, although it doesn’t look like there is one planned, at least according to Goodreads.  It ends in something of  cliffhanger.  If it does end in a small cliffhanger, then it seems fairly appropriate for this book.  As you read Echoes, you discover that almost nothing is as it appears (except for, probably, Fiona and Miles).

If you enjoy interesting books with puzzles to solve, you will probably like Echoes.  It would be nice if there ends up being a sequel, as the book is well set up for one, but if there is not, it fits into the style of the rest of the book.

I Love The Young Elites

By Brookelorren on 2 Comments

Young Elites coverToday I will be reviewing the Young Elites trilogy, so it looks like I will be reviewing all nine of Marie Lu’s books this year.  My review for Wildcard will come out September 18th or 19th, and I’ll probably end up reviewing her Batman: Nightwalker book in September as well.  Like my review of the Legend trilogy last month, I will review all three books at once.

The Young Elites trilogy is comprised of three books:  The Young Elites, The Rose Society, and The Midnight Star.  I like the second two books better than the first book of the trilogy; in fact, I currently have two Young Elites related fanfics in progress, and they are more influenced by the second two books.

The three books follow the story of Adelina Amouteru.  As a child, she caught the blood fever and one of her eyes become infected and had to be burned out, leaving a scar.  She also was marked with silver hair.  Although she was still pretty, her scar left her marked: she was a malfetto.

Many people who caught the blood fever as children survived with marks of various types and lived as malfettos.  People hated and feared them.  Adults who caught the blood fever died.

Some children who got the blood fever eventually discovered that they had supernatural powers.  These people became known as The Young Elites.

The blood fever also infected her sister Violetta, who survived and remained unmarked.  Violetta remained pretty, and was the favorite of their father.  Over time, Adelina became resentful and bitter towards her sister.

Until one night, her father decided to sell her to a wealthy merchant… as a mistress.

Adelina wasn’t having that.  She decided to escape instead.  In the process of escaping, she accidentally killed her father — and discovered that she had the power to conjure up illusions.  She was an Elite.

She is taken in by a group of Elites known as The Dagger Society.  They taught her how to use her powers.  She falls in love with the leader of The Dagger Society.  While all this was happening, she discovers that she is trapped into making impossible choices.  She doesn’t know who to trust, and we are led along through all three books.

Themes

Trust and rejection are a huge part of this story.  Adelina feels like she is rejected by everybody in her life.  Society rejects her for being a malfetto.  She’s rejected by her father.  She feels like she is rejected by her sister.  Then, she is rejected some more.  The more she faces rejection, the more bitter and dark her soul becomes.  When she achieves power over others, she takes it out on them.  She becomes one of those wicked people that you read about as the villains in many other stories.  Yet… you don’t wish ill for her.

Another theme in this story seems to be about mental illness.  As Adelina becomes more powerful, she starts seeing hallucinations and has nightmares.  If she existed in the 21st century and not in a fantasy novel, we would say that she had a mental illness.  Her hallucinations only contribute to the darkness in her heart, until it almost seems impossible for her to crawl out of this dark hole that she’s dug for herself.  My theory on this trilogy is… that she would never have been able to crawl out of this hole on her own.

But, never fear, that is not the end of her story.  A third theme of this story is unconditional love.  There are people that love Adelina for who she is and not what she can do for them.  These are the people that finally help her redeem herself in the bittersweet end.

Setting

I love the setting for this book.  The world is a fantasy, medieval-type world (quite unlike Legend, which is a future dystopian setting).  Each part of the world has a different flavor to it.  The world that Adelina is born into seems to have the flavor of Italy, and in particular, Venice.  The northern part of the world reminds me of the Celts.  In the South, where Adelina’s ancestors hail from, the world seems like medieval Persia.

I felt that this was a really clever way to set up the world.  In my Young Elites WIP, Saving Adelinetta, I’ll be extending on the theme of her settings; but I still have about 1/3 of the first draft to do, and it’s going to need a lot of editing, so who knows when I will finish it.

Overall

This is one of my favorite stories.  In order to write fanfiction, I have to spend a lot of time reading the original books, getting into the character’s heads, and studying what the story is trying to say.  I’ve only written for four fandoms, and this is one of them.  The Young Elites trilogy is good enough for me to want to live in these character’s heads and reread the books enough to write fanfics based on it.  I think that’s enough of an endorsement to say that I really like it.

Best Books I’ve Read in 2018 (So Far) – Top Ten Tuesday

By Brookelorren on 25 Comments

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday Topic is Best Books I’ve Read in 2018 (So Far).  Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

I’ve done an annual list of my favorite books, in various places, for about 10 years now, but I’ve never done a semi-annual list.  I’m going to follow the same rules as my normal annual list, which are:

  • Rereads of books I’ve loved previously aren’t eligible
  • Any book I finish in the time period counts, regardless of publication date
  • Translations of books that I previously read in English aren’t eligible
  • If I read multiple books in a series at the same time and they’re all good, they get ranked together

So here’s my list:

City of Bones Cover10. City of Bones – I was looking through Goodreads for some books to read, and Cassandra Clare’s Queen of Air and Darkness looks like it’s going to be highly anticipated this year… only I’ve never read any of the series.  Although this book has been out for a while, it’s the very first of the series, so I decided to start there.  It just barely makes this top 10 list.  It probably won’t make the end of year list, but I liked this one well enough to request the rest of the Mortal Instruments books at the library (I’m still #7 on the waiting list for the second book though).

Ace of Shades Cover9. Ace of Shades – This is another book that I enjoyed that probably won’t make the Top 10 Books of the Year list.  I found this on sale for $1.99 so I couldn’t pass it up.  I thought that the story was fun, and the world, which seems to be based on Las Vegas, was interesting.  The situation that the characters get themselves into also seems to be fairly unique, and the magic system that Amanda Foody comes up with is unlike anything else I’ve seen in the past.  The story ends in a cliff hanger and I definitely wanted to read more.  I’ll be on the lookout for the next book, King of Fools, when it is released next year.

8. My Real Name is Hanna – When I saw that this book, about a Jewish Ukrainian girl who survives during World War II, was available in exchange for an honest review, I just had to read it.  It is a beautiful story.  The characters, although fictional, seem so real, that I almost thought of them as such as I finished the story (they are based on an actual family).  With all of the hatred of the “other” going on in this world right now, it has a good message that other people should read.  This book won’t be released until September 18th (that’s going to be a HUGE book release day).

Indianapolis cover7. Indianapolis – I haven’t read a lot of nonfiction this year, and so far Indianapolis is the only book that has made my top 10 list.  I have a few must-read nonfiction books on my TBR for later on in the year though that have a good chance of making the annual list.  Indianapolis was an exciting read, and although it is nonfiction, often reads like a fiction book.  It doesn’t come out until July 10th, but I was honored to have the opportunity to read it before its pub date in exchange for an honest review.

Echoes cover6. Echoes – Echoes is different than any other book that I’ve read in a long time.  I had a hard time putting it down.  The book has a puzzle that isn’t quite solved at the end of the book (which ends in something of a cliffhanger), runs in two different timelines that overlap each other, and features an enemies to lovers trope.  Although a sequel to this book isn’t listed on Goodreads, I would love it if this book ends up having one.  This book will be out August 7th; I was fortunate enough to be allowed to read this book ahead of time in exchange for my honest review.

Flame in the mist cover5. Flame in the Mist (series) – When I read Flame in the Mist, I couldn’t put it down.  I was thinking about the characters while I was at work, which interrupted my reading time.  Fortunately, I read this book only a few weeks before Smoke in the Sun was released, because I anxiously awaited the release of the second book of this duology.  The second book wasn’t quite as good as the first (mainly because it doesn’t feature as much of Mariko and Ōkami, which is what I liked most about the first book), but it’s still good enough to be included in the top 10 list.  I did like how the series ended, however.

The Fates Divide cover4. The Fates Divide – This was a book that I spent counting down the days to for a couple of months before it came out.  I read Carve the Mark three times this year as I waited for this book to come out (once in Spanish).  As soon as I could get it out of my mailbox, I spent the entire day reading it.  I absolutely loved it, and even the ending was excellent.  I guess Veronica Roth was trying to make up for chapter 50 of Allegiant.  I’m glad she didn’t end this beautiful series with the bitter taste of disappointment.

Strange the Dreamer Cover3. Strange the Dreamer – with this strange name, I wasn’t initially interested in reading the book, but then I saw some reviews on it that made me change my mind.  It is a beautiful book.  The prose is amazing.  The characters are likeable; they aren’t your cookie-cutter beautiful people, which is a good thing.  The world building is great.  It also has a really good underlying message.  I couldn’t put it down, even though this is a fairly large book.  I’m looking forward to Muse of Nightmares, which will be coming out soon (but not soon enough).

An Ember in the Ashes Cover2. An Ember in the Ashes (series) – There was a lot of hype surrounding the release of A Reaper at the Gates, and since I had never read the first book in the series, I wasn’t going to read it, but then Ember became available at my local library.  I was halfway through book 1 before I decided that I needed to read the entire series as soon as possible; I immediately went to go look for the other two books.  Fortunately, A Torch in the Night was also available at the library, so I was able to buy Reaper and read all three books in three consecutive days.

Midnight Star cover1. The Midnight Star – This book came out in 2016, concluding the Young Elites series.  If you read my blog for very long, you’ll figure out that I love Marie Lu’s books.  In fact, I’ve read all of her books this year (except the Batman one because I’m not into superheroes, although I suppose I’ll have to get around to reading that one at some point anyway) .  It took me until January of this year to read it because I “won” the book in a sweepstakes, and they never sent it to me.  If I hadn’t won the book, I would have pre-ordered it.

I loved this book.  It has some really beautiful scenes in it, and the ending was fitting, if not overly joyful.  It was slightly open-ended, which is why I’m currently working on a fanfic at this point (I’ve currently written 245 pages and I’m about 2/3 of the way through, but it’s going to take a lot of revising and I have 4 works in progress at this point).

It was really hard to pick a favorite among the top books on my list.  They were all so good.  I expect that there will be some stiff competition for the top ten list for the year.

I Loved Ace of Shades

By Brookelorren on 6 Comments

I recently finished reading Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody.  It’s not a cookbook.  When I was in the Navy I worked with a person named Army; our last names don’t always match our job title.  At any rate, it was a very enjoyable book, and I look forward to the sequel whenever it comes out.  I got this when it was on sale for $1.99 the other day.  I figured I couldn’t pass it up.

Our story takes place in a place called New Reynes, which is also known as the City of Sin.  Our first protagonist, Enne, is supposed to be a debutante in about a year, and she knows how to behave like a proper lady.  Her (adoptive) mother, however, is missing, and she is entering this den of iniquity in an attempt to find her.  Almost immediately after stepping off the boat, she loses her luggage, is chased by the cops, and ends up running into a gang lord (which is the person her adoptive mother wants her to seek out).

Levi, our other protagonist, is the gang lord.  He is in desperate need of getting his hands on 10,000 volts (volts are their form of currency).  Enne just happens to promise him that amount of money if he will help her find her mother.  Our story follows the two protagonists as they get themselves into trouble and change the city forever.  Along the way, Enne finds out some dangerous family secrets, and discovers that she might not be cut out to be a proper lady after all: she might be much more instead.

The Characters

Ace of Shades is told in the third person point of view from the perspective of our two main protagonists.  I enjoyed the characters.  Levi was a gang lord, but he was still fairly young.  He’s also, for the most part, not an evil guy.  He might cheat at cards, but he’s not a murderer, for example.  Enne begins her journey to New Reynes as a very naïve lady, but she is quickly changed by the city.  While I do like the characters, the rapid transformation of Enne stretches reality a little.  It doesn’t keep me from enjoying the book, but it may bother some people.  The same holds true for Levi and Enne’s relationship.  They start to develop an attraction to each other almost immediately (although they don’t act on it).  Levi and Enne are so completely different that it’s difficult at first to see themselves falling for each other.

The World

The World of Ace of Shades seems to be pretty unique.  It seems to have a basis in Las Vegas, but there is a magic system in place that obviously doesn’t exist in the real world.  Everybody has talents that they are born with; your two last names tell other people what your talents are.  People bind themselves to each other with oaths.  There are more magical forces in this world as well, but I won’t mention them in order to not give out spoilers.

The city is also a city of dirty politics.  It has faced war in the past.  It is crawling with street gangs, although that doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t associate with one another.  Some of the police are also corrupt.  The world is well done and enjoyable.

Overall, Ace of Shades was enjoyable and well worth the time I spent reading it.  It may not be the best book I read this year, but I liked it nonetheless.

Far Forest Scrolls was… Okay

By Brookelorren on 2 Comments

I recently had the opportunity to review Far Forest Scrolls Na Cearcaill.  It sounded really great.  What’s not to like about a fantasy story with dragons and adventure?  It looked like it might have a little Celtic influence as well (I’ve done a little bit of studying Irish and there are a few words in Irish in this book).  It turned out, the book was just okay.  The book has a lot of potential; I just didn’t think that it was where it should have been for a published novel.  Especially not for a book that is scheduled to cost $24.95.

Plot

Far forest scrolls happens in a medieval fantasy setting.  There is a “squad” of squires that the story revolves around, mostly Bellae, who is a pre-tween who discovers that she has a gift for talking to animals.  The squires (and their knights) go through many adventures.  Bellae (or her friend) has been foretold to be the chosen one in the upcoming Na Caercaill, which I think means some sort of cataclysm or world-shaking event.  There is also war on the horizon, which the squires and knights must prepare for.

What I Liked

While overall, I wasn’t a fan of this book, it wasn’t without its merits.  The story was imaginative, and I thought Bellae was a cute character, and she had some nice friendships with some of her squadmates.  You could tell how she loved animals, which was quite endearing.  There were parts that were pretty exciting.  The story was written with a good vocabulary, with colorful words.  Some of the illustrations were good.

What I Didn’t Like So Much

The book felt a little amateurish.  For example, sometimes the characters would explain concepts of the world that the other characters probably already knew, but the reader didn’t.  It made the dialogue sound a little off.  There were a lot of characters in this book, and in the beginning, they were introduced a little too quickly — I had trouble keeping everything straight.  The same holds true for the places in this world.  The book also had several illustrations.  While a smattering of the illustrations looked like they were professionally done, some of the illustrations looked like they came out of someone’s sketch book.  You could even see the outline of the page where it had been scanned.  The sketches and illustrations broke up the text on my Kindle, although if you read this in the hardback version, that wouldn’t be a problem.

The book seemed to have an abrupt ending.  There really was no climax to the story; no great battle that they win and then they have to go fight an even bigger battle, like many other trilogies/duologies/tetralogies etc. have.  They were in the middle of a fight, some reinforcements show up, and then… that’s all folks.  The web site describes this as part of a pentology, so there must be more to this story coming.

This book was categorized as a Young Adult novel, but I would probably put it in the Middle Grade category.  The main characters are Middle Grade age, and there is some banter that I think would be better appreciated by a Middle Grade audience.  Some of the vocabulary might be advanced for Middle Grades, but the storyline itself I think has more Middle Grade appeal.

After I agreed to review this book, it was taken off Goodreads.  It is also no longer on NetGalley (where I received my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review).  Perhaps the author withdrew the book so they could make further revisions (it was supposed to be released August 3rd).  I hope that they do that, because while I didn’t particularly think the story was great, it does have the potential to be a good story.

Never Stop Walking Was Great!

By Brookelorren on 2 Comments

Never Stop Walking CoverNever Stop Walking: A Memoir of Finding Home Across the World, by Christina Rickardsson, is an outstanding book.  It is a story that everybody with a heart should read.  This book may even cause you to see the world in a different light.

Never Stop Walking is the true story of a girl who grew up on the streets in Brazil and was later adopted by a family in Sweden.  In a way, it is a literal rags-to-riches tale.

Christina’s telling of her childhood growing up, first in caves, then in the slums of São Paulo, is fascinating.  She witnesses horrors that most first-world adults couldn’t even imagine.  In order to survive, she witnessed (and caused) violence, endured extreme hunger, and was treated worse than most people treat animals.  After she is adopted, she has to deal with fitting in with people that have no clue what she’s been through.  Her story ends as an adult, returning home to find out the truth about her family and what actually happened.

Never Stop Walking is a story that should make you think.  What Christina went through as a girl is still happening today.  There are still desperately impoverished children in Brazil, even today.  There are places in the world, like Venezuela, that are becoming more and more like the world of this story.  People are being displaced from their homes through war and terrorist activity; what are their lives like?

This book is not one of despair, however.  Never Stop Walking is, above all, a story about how love can carry people through even the most difficult of situations.  The love of Christina’s friends, of her mother, and even from the occasional caring adult, kept her from being completely torn up and destroyed, even after all that she had been through.  Most of us will probably never have to worry about being rounded up and shot by the police, or will have to fight over scraps of food after not eating for days, but when we do go through difficult times, the people around us can help us through.  We can care for others and help them through their difficult times.

Never Stop Walking is a book that made me feel thankful.  Bad things happen to everybody, but if you’re reading this book review, you probably will never have to go through what people living on the streets of Brazil go through every day.  I enjoyed reading this story, and I feel like I am a better person because I read it.  I hope you like it as well.

An Ember in the Ashes Has that Spark

By Brookelorren on 2 Comments

An Ember in the Ashes CoverAn Ember in the Ashes is the first book in Sabaa Tahir’s Ember in the Ashes tetralogy, and it is excellent.  If you haven’t read it yet, you want to add this to your TBR list.  Be warned, however, once you start reading this series, you’re going to want to get your hands on the next two books so you won’t have to wait for the next book.

I was originally planning on reviewing Marie Lu’s Legend series today, but since the third book in this series, A Reaper at the Gates, just came out, I will be reviewing the three books in this series over the next several days instead.  I plan on reviewing A Torch Against the Night on Saturday, and A Reaper at the Gates on Monday.  As I am writing this, I’m only 120 pages into the second book, but I already know that I’ll be spending most of my free time reading these books until the series is done.  It’s that good.

An Ember in the Ashes is set in a fictional world that is based on the ancient Roman Empire.  In the beginning of the story, it’s a normal world with stories of magical creatures, but as the story progresses, it turns out that these stories are real.  The story is told from the point of view of our two protagonists, Laia and Elias.

Laia is a lower (maybe lower-middle) class girl living under the oppressive Empire.  Elias is about to graduate from 14 years of grueling training that have turned him into an elite soldier.  After Laia’s life is turned upside down in one horrific night, she undergoes a quest to try to save her brother, voluntarily becoming a slave.  This is where she meets Elias, who is not like most of the other trained killers in his profession.  Elias doesn’t want to be a killer – he wants to be free to be something else.  Over the course of the book, they develop an unlikely relationship and realize that they both can help each other.

The book is well-done.  The characters are interesting, the plot is intricate but not confusing, and the world is well-built.  Before I was even halfway done with this book, I made plans on obtaining the next two books.  I didn’t go to bed until I had finished the book, and I’m sure that I will finish the second book tonight.

I couldn’t find anything that I didn’t like about this book.  It seems appropriate for most teens.  There is a lot of violence and some threatened sexual violence, but there is nothing explicit and there is no cursing (when the characters “curse” they say things like “ten hells” or expressions that we don’t consider to be obscene).

This book seems to have positive messages.  Don’t beat yourself up for protecting yourself.  As long as there’s life, there’s hope.  I liked that about this story.

If you like young adult stories with a little bit of magic, check out An Ember in the Ashes, and the followup books.  I’m loving it so far.

Other books in this series I have reviewed:

Indianapolis is a Harrowing Tale of Lost History

By Brookelorren on Leave a Comment

Indianapolis CoverIndianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man (that title is a mouthful) by Lynn Vincent is an excellent story of a World War II naval disaster that you may never have heard of.  If you are a fan of World War II history, or military history in general, I highly recommend it.

The Indianapolis was the ship that was chosen to deliver the nuclear weapons that were used to help end World War II to Japan.  After the ship made its top secret delivery, it was sunk by an enemy submarine.  The captain was court-martialed, his career was destroyed, and the survivors felt that the whole situation was unjust.  The captain was finally exonerated about 75 years later, after most of the survivors had already passed away.  Indianapolis is the story of the delivery, the sinking, the destruction of Captain Charles McVay, and finally, his redemption.

I first heard of the Indianapolis last year, when I read Bill O’Reilly’s Killing the Rising Sun, which is another excellent book on World War II.  Although that book focused on the war in Japan in general, I remember reading about the fate of the Indianapolis (and its captain) and thought that it was really sad.  When I had the opportunity to read Lynn Vincent’s book on this ship in exchange for an honest review, I jumped at the chance.

Indianapolis tells the story of the ship from before the delivery of the atomic weapons to Captain McVay’s absolution.  It tells about how the crew dealt with the sinking ship.  It tells about how the crew fought off sharks, dealt with dehydration and hunger, and tried to keep from going insane.  It tells about the incompetence of the Navy in even recognizing that such an important ship was lost in the first place.  It describes what could potentially be thought of as corruption during McVay’s court martial, and the bureaucracy that prevented him from receiving justice for well over half a century.

The story was exciting.  Vincent helps us get to know many of the sailors over the course of the book, which helped me care about what happened.  The descriptions of the ship’s sinking and the sharks in the water were page turners, almost as if you were reading fiction.  You feel for the captain as he realizes that his career was sunk.  I cried tears of joy at the end when he was finally cleared of all charges, even though he had committed suicide years before.

One of the problems that I have with some military books is that they sometimes tend to use a lot of military terminology without adequately defining them.  As a former military officer, I’m familiar with terms like 1MC, forecastle, gunwale, bulkhead, and the like, but if you’re not familiar with shipboard terms, don’t worry with this book.  Vincent doesn’t introduce naval terminology without defining it for you, and she often even tells you how to pronounce it.  If you’re new to military books, this can be a great help.

If you like to read history and are familiar with the US fight against Japan in World War II, I highly recommend this book (if you need a refresher on the US fight against Japan, Killing the Rising Sun might be a good place to start).  Indianapolis is a good book if you want to delve more deeply into the war and want to read a good story of shipwreck and survival.

Indianapolis won’t be released until July 10th, but you can pre-order it now.