Rational Characters in an Irrational World
341330
No superheroes or supervillains.  Just well fleshed out, normal people; each with an agenda; each with flaws and capabilities.  Each trying to be focused and rational, each trying to be effective ... in a Mideast landscape that is irrational, surreal, and insane.  The style is set in the first 15 pages: where you think you're going is never quite where you end up.  A good read.  And as an aside, the backbone of this story is true.  The fiction is how the characters might have made it that way.
3140389
This is a solid book. It uses an old trope (normal person ends up in a different world) but works it well. The world is interesting and varied enough to not simply be a cookie cutter of other universes. The main character is understandable, logical, and is a strong female lead. I've pre-purchased the second in the series.
90907
Interesting characters who come together in spite of their differences.
4633976
Maggie S. has constructed a real world from an unlikely myth populated by eccentrics and loveable characters, as well as some real (but less well drawn) villains. I found myself wanting to add this island to my vacation list- just NOT in November. Not exactly Misty of Chincoteague, but fun to read. I plan on putting the cake recipe to good use.
1063816
Kooky, quirky characters are fun to read. But they often fade away when the book ends unless there is a real solidity underneath any absurdity. It is not easy to write a character who is at once silly and dead serious, and even more difficult to place that character in a suitable tale. First-time novelist Tod Wodicka, however, has done just that. In the memorably titled ALL SHALL BE WELL; AND ALL SHALL BE WELL; AND ALL MANNER OF THINGS SHALL BE WELL, readers meet Burt Hecker, a widowed eccentric who lives as if it is 1105 and not 2008.

Years ago Burt founded the Confraternity of Times Lost Regained, which allowed him not only to live out his medieval fantasies but to do so with like-minded people. His friends and family put up with his eccentricities, understanding them as harmless for the most part. Only his mother-in-law, the stern Lemko nationalist Anna Bibko, called it ridiculous. His daughter, June, rebelled through an interest in science fiction and geology, but Burt's sensitive son Tristan, a natural musician, joined his father in the world of medieval reenactment.

However, since his wife's death from cancer two years ago, Burt has loosened his already-tenuous hold on reality. He can no longer maintain the family's Victorian bed and breakfast, spends his days dressed in dirty tunics drinking mead and is estranged from his two adult children. After absconding with his friend's car (which he did not know how to drive), he is sentenced to an anger management treatment. The group he ends up in is a women's medieval chant workshop led by the sympathetic Tivona Henry. Tivona takes the group to Germany for a conference on Hildegard von Bingen, a medieval mystic and composer to whom Burt relates on a deeply personal level. The trip to Europe provides an escape from the scene of his wife's death and the opportunity to track down Tristan, who, it turns out, is somewhere in Prague. Facing head-on Burt's depression and drinking problem as well as family secrets and dysfunction, the Heckers must decide if they can be a family again and what family really means.

Wodicka's debut is original and highly readable but provides no easy answers. Readers will surely come to care for the egocentric and damaged Burt and his grieving family. Still, the author never promises that all shall be well for them. In this way, the book is at once inventive and realistic. This is a very confident first novel; the characters are complex, the story is rich and the settings are lively --- and all of it is written with a smart and graceful hand.

ALL SHALL BE WELL succeeds in marrying the offbeat with the commonplace. Moving effortlessly between past and present, Wodicka tells the compelling story of a man at once both simple and quite complicated. While the details of Burt Hecker's life are unique, his tale --- of origins, destinations and the path between the two --- is universal.

  --- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman
4126196
I love predictability and happy endings. But please have your characters like more than chicken pot pie, blueberry pie and chocolate cake! Lol
21460
The "Spell for Kia" series continues in good form. Those reviewers who object to the authors gender and sexuality should be ignored along with their bigotry, an author is free to write about all kinds of characters. I've found the series to be charming, thought provoking, and very entertaining and look forward to hearing the story develop.

In this third installment there are some very dark moments but importantly the core appeal of the book remains - a protagonist and her peers growing into their powers, wisdom and responsibilities as young, rare and highly valued sorceresses, in a fantasy world which is well constructed and populated with characters this reader has enjoyed seeing mature.

The series is well worth a read.
3685390
The protagonist is presumed evil by the populace because she's the servant of a Fallen god. Aneeka Richins manages to keep her a sympathetic character despite some questionable decisions.

The conflict is mostly internal, as Ki has a secret: she is the "Wanted Child" her student is supposed to destroy. And she thinks he's cute.

The world is really messed up. Some readers will adore that.

This is the first of a series, but there's a good resolution. I don't feel like I need to read the rest.
4779154
The cosine of this irrational argument is unity, maybe something worth thinking about in this beautiful novel about reality and faith. Five stars, but Life of Pi is far from perfect - my main qualm is its unevenness. Some passages make you cry and wonder, while others feel more commonplace. I bought this book at the Waterstone's in Bloomsbury because of its gripping introduction, and its ending is even better. Somewhere around the middle it drags a bit. My other dislike is the development of the protagonist - or should I say the lack of it. Pi wasn't hard for me to like, but very hard for me to believe as a plausible person. But the originality of Life of Pi makes up for these flaws. This is by far the best religious apologist piece I've ever read, but it functions as something more than that.
3836283
I'm really enjoying this series. The author is not afraid to surprise the reader by killing off what appears to be a protagonists. Characters are multidimensional, even when they make horrible decisions you can understand why. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
2005926
Incredibly smart, well-written, and FUN. The book and its (diverse!) characters are complex, a puzzle to be solved by the characters and the reader. It's so nice to read a book that doesn't treat readers like we're brain-dead morons who need to be spoon-fed every point. Brilliant.
4350808
I love the characters!  The book is a bit hard to follow at the beginning, as so many characters are introduced, as well as so much patois and 'local color' that I was unfamiliar with.  It is well worth the effort.  The conclusion was intellectually satisfying.  Emotionally, not so much.  Not a happy ending, but perhaps realistic.
930978
Interesting character study and how perception frames events.
3687526
As with any model claiming predictive power, economics rests on a theory of human behavior-specifically, rational choice theory, which posits decisionmakers who are autonomous individuals who make rational choices that maximize their satisfactions. Critics of economics have long complained that rational choice is, at best, an incomplete account of human behavior. The traditional response to that criticism is that rationality is simply an abstraction developed as a useful model of predicting the behavior of large numbers of people and, as such, does not purport to describe real people embedded in a real social order. A theory is properly judged by its predictive power with respect to the phenomena it purports to explain, not by whether it is a valid description of an objective reality. Accordingly, the relevant question to ask about the assumptions of a theory is not whether they are descriptively realistic, for they never are, but whether they are sufficiently good approximations for the purpose in hand. Until quite recently, empirical research tended to confirm that the rational choice model of human behavior is a good first approximation of how large numbers of people are likely to behave in exchange transactions.
Over the last 10-15 years, however, a new school of economic analysis has emerged that challenges the rational choice model precisely on its predictive power. Empirical and laboratory work by cognitive psychologists and experimental economists has identified a growing number of anomalies in which behavior appears to systematically depart from that predicted by rational choice. The extent to which behavioral economics calls into question more traditional modes of economic analysis remains sharply contested. At the very least, however, it seems clear that attention must be paid to the possibility that behavioral analysis sheds light on policy issues.
Richard Thaler is one of the foremost behavioral economists. This volume collects many of his early studies of behavior that departs from the predictions of rational choice economics. As such, this volume is more of an anthology than a coherent whole--and reads like it. The lay reader should also be warned that "Quasi Rational Economics" is, at beast, only quasi-accessible. Unlike "Winner's Curse," which collects a (relatively) accessible a series of articles Thaler wrote for the Journal of Economic Perspectives, "QRE" collects his more technical literature. Yet, for those willing to tackle the math and technical analysis, it remains a useful introduction to the literature.
352287
The Dragon Never Sleeps spotlights the dynamics between multiple species and personalities. Varied motivations produce unexpected results to longstanding conflicts. Action, characters, reasoning, mistakes and victories add up to a complex but perhaps inevitable conclusion, unthinkable without character growth, motive and political changes. As the hero of the piece grows weary in a non-ideal victory, imperfect possibilities become realities. An excellent story.
454657
Title: Zenn Scarlett
Author: Christian Schoon
Editorial: Strange Chemistry
Synopsis: When you're studying to be exoveterinarian specializing in exotic, alien life forms, school... is a different kind of animal.

Zenn Scarlett is a resourceful, determined 17-year-old girl working hard to make it through her novice year of exovet training. That means she's learning to care for alien creatures that are mostly large, generally dangerous and profoundly fascinating. Zenn's all-important end-of-term tests at the Ciscan Cloister Exovet Clinic on Mars are coming up, and, she's feeling confident of acing the exams. But when a series of inexplicable animal escapes and other disturbing events hit the school, Zenn finds herself being blamed for the problems. As if this isn't enough to deal with, her absent father has abruptly stopped communicating with her; Liam Tucker, a local towner boy, is acting unusually, annoyingly friendly; and, strangest of all: Zenn is worried she's started sharing the thoughts of the creatures around her. Which is impossible, of course. Nonetheless, she can't deny what she's feeling.

Now, with the help of Liam and Hamish, an eight-foot sentient insectoid also training at the clinic, Zenn must learn what's happened to her father, solve the mystery of who, if anyone, is sabotaging the cloister, and determine if she's actually sensing the consciousness of her alien patients... or just losing her mind. All without failing her novice year...

MI FAVOURITE CHARACTER: Zenn Scarlett is the heroine of a dystopian future full of aliens. She is my favorite character, she is the main character because she has the most appealing personality, and because she is the protagonist. I like that she is independent and she does not give in to the difficulties, she is one of these heroines that does not need anybody  to defend her.

Opinion: I had the opportunity to read Zenn Scarlett through NetGalley and I read it during  the Easter Holidays. This book is  easy and fast to read, I read it in the car on the trip from Zaragoza to Murcia.
The story is very entertaining as the author takes you into a new world full of aliens, new universes and galaxies.  Almost all the characters are secondary, I wanted to see more of Liam because it looks like he has feelings for Zenn but very little happens. I missed more romance, but that's something that usually happens to me because I'm a hopeless romantic.
The dystopian future in which this story takes place is wonderful, as the author explains in such detail that I really imagined that I was living on Mars with the characters. I loved that is not the typical dystopia in which everything goes around policy.
Actually, I was very surprised by this book and I really want it to be publish,  in order to get the second book as soon as I can.

Punctuation: 4,3/5
3669239
This is a good story made relevant by kidnapped children, electronic gaming, traditional mystery, personal relationships and ideas that stretch across social mores and encourage the reader to explore their own perceptions of social correctness and inter-relatedness of the friends and acquaintances we meet every day.

A decent writing that promises some mind works, the action elements are well developed and reflect details that allow the reader to get a good understanding of each scenario.  With the good descriptions and mind-challenging puzzles, the novel will keep the reader's interest.  As the story unfolds, the reader will question the realistic potential for the explanations offered, though the logic works.  The denoument provides an awkward explanation of the culprit's motivation, and the final twist is somewhat disconcerting when applying all the careful thoughts that led up to to that final point--asking the reader to believe that the characters who used careful critical thinking skills and performed with experienced skill and honed intuition would behave in such an uncharacteristic manner in order to achieve that twist is a bit discrepant and unbelievable;  however, that twist would seem to be consistent with the author's idea of marketable relevance.

A decent book with a good action-filled plot, this book is recommended for those interested in the way the mind works when challenged with pushing the boundaries of traditional social constructs--as well as for readers wanting to challenge the mind with logic puzzles.