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Pines

Book Notes Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 11:17 on 17 February 2017

I bought this book twice. I don't know why I did this, other than something must have caught my attention. Might have been the Wayward Pines show, which has M Night as a producer of some sort (could be in name only, could be active participation, only the people who are doing the work really know). Might have been the placement of the book in a stack in the bookstore. I don't actually know why I purchased the book not once but twice.

That all said, I read it in two nights. Would have been one night of reading, the book was that interesting, but, well, sleep and work caught up to me, and I couldn't finish it.

The book is about Ethan Burke who wakes up from a car accident not quite remembering where he is who he is, that sort of thing. He remembers parts, but not enough of it.

I liked the Twin Peaks feel of the book, only to realize at the end of book in the author's note that Twin Peaks was, indeed, the inspiration for the book.

I'll be checking out books 2 and 3 in this (just realized) series.

Perfection was a surface thing. The epidermis. Cut a few layers deep, you begin to see some darker shades.
Page 28

How many lived day to day, in the moment, banishing any thought or remembrance of the life they had known before? It was easier to accept what could not be changed than to risk everything and seek out the unknown. What lay beyond. Long-term inmates often committed suicide, or reoffended, when faced with the prospect of life outside the prison walls. Was it so different here?
Page 167

Miniatures

Book Notes kitt decided around 11:17 on 14 February 2017 to publish this:

This is a collection of short stories by Scalzi. Unsurprisingly, I will read most anything this man writes, and this book is no exception. The man, and the fact they are short stories, of which I have a fondness, means I will read it.

Most of the works have been published before. All are pure Scalzi.

A quick, fun read. Normally, I'd be more inclined to seek out the stories elsewhere than buy the book, but I really want him to keep writing, and that means buying the things he writes, so, yeah, bought. Read. Entertained. If Scalzi is your thing, recommended.

Unrelated, my book reviews have to be a minimum number of lines long to format nicely on my site. As a result, I find myself padding some reviews to get to the minimum lengths.

Really, I should fix the design so that this isn't required.

Also unrelated, this sentence brings this review to the minimum. Sigh.

Joyland

Book Notes Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 21:52 on 13 February 2017

I haven't read a Stephen King book in a long while. I really enjoyed King's Eyes of the Dragon when it was released in the late eighties (alas, my copy was in a box of my favorite books that I stored in student summer storage at Tech, and it disappeared, along with my childhood copy of Where The Red Fern Grows), and delight in King's non-horror fiction. While I don't recall where I picked up this book in paperback, I enjoyed it. In typical King fashion, the reading is fast and easy, the plot straight-forward, and the emotional parts appropriately hit you in the gut.

The book is about Devin Jones, who works at an amusement park for a summer. There was a murder at the park four years before. The ghost is said to still roam the park. Devin has a summer, makes friends, wears the mascot costume a lot, meets his neighbors, has an adventure, lives a life. The book is a quick read. I recommend it, yes.

Unsurprisingly, I nicked a number of pages while reading.

When it comes to the past, everyone writes fiction.
p.47

"Son, do you know what history is?"

"Uh... stuff that happened in the past?"

The Skull Throne

Book Notes kitt decided around 22:14 on 10 February 2017 to publish this:

Why is this book called The Skull Throne? This isn't the Skull Throne, this book is the second half of The Daylight War, and okay, yes, this is the book of war. So many f'ing deaths. So much stupid male ego.

I suspect that Brett has been taking lessons from George R. R. Martin, including the detail of death on a commode.

This is the first book full of non-stop action. In Brett's style, we have backstories, multiple ones, filled in, but the bulk of the plot was in the "current" time frame.

Arlen and Jardir are pretty much non-existent in the story after a few philosophical conversations early in the book, pretty much discussing the merits of democracy (yay, Arlen) and authoritarianism (boo, Jardir, but we pretty much already hated him), so the next book should be interesting as we catch that plot in the current timeframe.

Yay for the introduction of the new characters, if only they were actually interesting.

Boo for the loss of the main characters we all cared about.

I mean COME ON.

Daylight War

Book Notes Instead of being asleep at 21:44 on 2 February 2017, kitt created this:

Yep, can confirm Brett's style of story plot is 80% back story fill-in and 20% plot advancement.

This is book three of the Demon Cycle, and Inevera's back story. Since we know Jardir and we know the story of Arlen, Brett fills in Inevera's history, and moves the plot of her world along. We have her history, her trials, her fights, her losses, and her victories. We have drama. We have death. We have victory. We have temporary defeat. We have spins and twists and loops.

And we have the f'ing ending. If I didn't have book four already handy, I would be mad. As it is, I'll have to wait for book five until August.

Anyway, Inevera's story. She makes a vow to stop senseless deaths by men's hubris, which she fulfills. She makes a vow that women can fight just as well as men and that they will be able to, which she fulfills. She plays her husband like a fiddle, which, well, one can learn from, even if from a fictional character.

Speaking of fiddles, wow, there wasn't really much plot advancement in this book, we hear little of Rojer, not much more of Leesha, with much of the story being backstory. Well, okay, wedding and sex and the like. Apparently in this world everyone has sex with everyone else even though everyone is a hypocrite about it. Fine.

Still, I found this book interesting, and enjoyed it more than the last one. I'll keep reading, I'm enjoying the series, and GAH THAT ENDING.

Desert Spear

Book Notes Posted by kitt at 20:44 on 25 January 2017

Book Two of the Demon Cycle, this book follows directly after The Warded Man, telling the story of Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer.

Except it isn't just their stories. Brett's style in this series appears to be continue the main story line of the three main characters, and also merge in the backstory of surrounding characters. I'll confirm when I read the next book, Daylight War. In this book's case, we follow Jardir's story, and I have to say, well, yawn.

Not a fan of the guy with delusions of power who attempted to murder Arlen. But, that's likely how it is supposed to be. Authors weave tales in specific ways so that the reader bonds with the "good guys" and jeers at the "bad guys." In this particular case, the bad guys believe that women are second class citizens, so, yeah, I really don't like the bad guys. We also meet Renna, whom I'm not a fan of either, so there's that.

Yeah, so, this book is about the Kaji side of the Thesan world, and moves the plot along a couple months while we learn Jardir's backstory. I'm not a fan of the first part of the book, but neither was Andy, so I'm okay with reading that part really fast to get to the parts I did enjoy. Even if, wtf, Leesha is with whom? Come on!

I'll keep reading.

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