Promising book that falls flat
585598
This book started out so promising - interesting plot, well thought-out history/myth, sizzling love triangle, betrayal, a coup...and then things fell apart.

Somewhere between the repetitive phrases (it was childish even to her ears. the "dancing" of male anatomy, etc) and the completely ridiculous sex scenes I really fell out of love with this book. I still mostly enjoyed the characters but I definitely felt put off by the crudeness of Julian and the modern way he spoke. Many of his mannerisms were felt thoroughly modern which didn't make a whole lot of sense to me; yes he was educated about modern times but I don't think it would have truly taken like that.

Sigh, in the end I was disappointed. Mediocre, at best, read. Glad it was free.
1303102
As a fan of both the LOTU and AIR series, I think this book fell flat.  The basic dynamic could have set up a lot of high drama with fully developed emotions between the characters and a rich plot line for the team, but it just never got there.  A great deal of the world building was left unfinished (even if you *have* read AIR, which shares this world) and just dropped in, expecting the reader to follow along.  There was a lot of unnecessary deus ex machina, like Showalter had some scenes in her head, but rather then flesh them out or tie them together in a comprehensible way, she'd just have a dimension shift here, a kidnapping there, some animal attacks and some black magic all loosely tied together.  Most disappointing were the inconsistencies which the editor didn't catch, particularly those concerning Vika's deafness--she often *heard* and reacted to tone of voice.  While I respect the author's choice for writing a character with this kind of impairment, I think it overly ambitious for someone with hearing to write about a deaf person's experience and write about it well.
3475825
"Doctor Illuminatus" is the first of what promises to be three books, and I was quite undecided on whether to give it two stars or three. Finally I clicked three, but what it really deserves is two and a half stars, putting it exactly midpoint between good and just fair. Though it has an interesting premise and full of fascinating facts and ideas, it often falls short on several accounts.

Pip and Tim are two twins that have just moved into an old, mysterious house called Rawne Barton: your standard beginning for a fantasy story of this nature. Before long, the siblings have uncovered a strange boy hidden in the walls of the house named Sebastian who claims to be the son of a medieval alchemist. He has been in a drugged sleep for the last six centuries, and now awoken in order to battle his father's enemy de Loudeac. In league with the devil himself, de Loudeac plans to create a homunculus, a being made out of dead matter that will do his bidding. Sebastian tells the twins that even now de Loudeac is gathering the ingredients he needs from the countryside.

Whilst Sebastian goes about his own mysterious business, the twins do their best to continue their day to day chores, but inevitably they are caught between Sebastian and de Loudeac's struggle. Martin Booth's strength throughout the story is also his weakness, and that is that he incorporates a lot of real history and facts about alchemy into the work. These touches are excellent, as they brought a sense of resonance and `realness' to the story, but at the same time they will only be appealing for those that already have a basic understanding of some of these historical figures and alchemical principles.

I was halfway in the middle, enjoying and appreciating some of the touches that were not just put in the story for their own sake, but actually *used*, but at other times struggling to sort out the myriad of names and facts and figures that he gives us.

Despite this however, Booth wonderfully matches ancient alchemy with their counterparts in modern day.

The characters are also quite problematic: Sebastian is an interesting enigma that lights up the page, but the twins are less enjoyable. Tim spends most of the beginning of the book denying that all the weird and wonderful events around him aren't real - this is a waste of time considering 1. They obviously are happening, and 2. When a reader opens a fantasy book, they are already agreeing to the rules of normality being broken - the author doesn't need to over-explain or justify the supernatural. Second of all, Pip isn't actually a strong heroine. Looking at Booth's previous publications, which are mostly war and survival stories (with boys as the protagonists), I came to the conclusion that Booth simply doesn't know how to portray females. Throughout the story, she is mostly shown gardening, shopping and being attacked, whilst Tim does the most to push the story along. When the final conflict does come, the boys use her as a decoy (though to be fair, she does manage to knock an enemy on the head with a rock).

Some things are introduced only to be forgotten, such as the mysterious bottle at the school and a cameo appearance from the devil, but I assume these are devices will be continued in the second book. Despite all my complaints I was intrigued by the story, and I will track down the next installment "Soul Stealer." Eventually.
1310342
This book would have been much improved with a decent editing. There are grammatical errors and typos, but those are less distracting than the stylistic issues of dropping out of the POV and frequent mention of words or concepts completely out of line with the book's fantasy setting.

An unschooled sheepherder is the main character, told in first person, and reading him use the word "molecules" in a medieval story was rather jarring for example, as was revelation of details occurring after he had left a room.

The characters are interesting enough, and the journey they undertake is as well. However, for some reason the author chose to try to force in a half-dozen encounters with characters or historic figures in the last quarter of the book - from Robin Hood to Neanderthals to the Beatles - with little regard to plausibility or advancement of the plot. Those scenes and a rushed anti-climactic finale were much less enjoyable than the first two-thirds of the book.

The core story had potential; unfortunately the execution did not do it justice.
4932046
I really wanted to love this book, but I didn't. Altogether it's a fun read and good premise but it fell short in a few places.

This book starts off strong and promising but the main character, throughout the book, seems inconsistent to me. One moment she is riveted in place, the next she is forceful with her words. She wasn't the super strong heroine that I like to see, but sometimes she stood up for herself. She was smart and passed her test with "flying colors" but then it takes her a LONG TIME to connect some of the dots that are askew in her life. If you are truly that smart then it shouldn't take so long, be so hard, or drawn out. So, like I said, inconsistent.

I also thought that the book grew very long in a few places and there were several missed opportunities to show additional conflict inside and outside of prison and how horrible prison life really was for her. It touched on it, but I thought it could have been grittier. It definitely needed more conflict! And the main bad guy shows up sporadically. I think he could have caused a lot more drama and I kept waiting for it to happen, but it wasn't at the level I was hoping and expecting. I will say that the dude did give me the creeps though, so at least he was well written.

The ending I was not thrilled about. I was expecting a twist or something that makes me go "AHHH!" but it never happened. I hear there is a sequel to hopefully be out in June of 2014, not sure if I will buy it or not at this point. I don't feel like I 'have' to read it after finishing this one.
746893
I heard so much hype about this book, I really wanted to like it. And the concept is interesting- that the USA is a totalitarian state, with control of the populace based on a fear of love, which has been labeled a disease that kills and disrupts society. Not a believable concept, but an interesting one.

The problem, for me, is the characters. I LOVED the way Oliver juxtaposed Lena and Hanna, and the development of their friendship. To me, that was the most real aspect of the book. The rest of it seemed underdeveloped, rushed, and flat. Alex was clearly less a character and more a tool. Lena's own actions and decisions made little sense, given her upbringing. And the unresolved questions about the few characters I actually liked were bothersome.

In total, this is a shallow but quick read, and good if you just want a YA romance without having to think or believe too much.
2403284
The second book I have read by Marylu Tyndall was sadly a disappointment. I didn't really enjoy Veil of Pearls and but gave The Falcon and the Sparrow a chance, one reason being that it is the only one of her novels set in Britain, but also because I did not want to give up on her work completely.

It had a promising beginning and premise, but was neither an especially good spy cum mystery novel nor a quality romance. In some respects, it had many parallels with the other, including assorted bunch of leering and lecherous aristocratic men, or jealous and snobbish aristocratic women one of whom was after the guy who was really falling for Dominque, a woman hiding the truth about her past or identity. Also a hero who has lost his belief in God because of suffering or difficult circumstances. Not an especially original characterization in the case of the last, and the former giving the impression of a somewhat formulaic or clich ridden story. Also, the consistent depiction of almost all wealthy/aristocratic characters in such a way does make me wonder if author dislikes the upper classes as a whole.

The romance was fairly typical for the genre with a nice Christian partner falling for the hurting and unavailable/unsuitable other half. There were too many coincidental nocturnal encounters in unbuttoned shirts or only a nightgown for my liking, and the romance bordering on inappropriate or verging on the racy or even obscene. The attempted rape scene was almost enough to tip it over the edge- there are other novels which involve such things, but the way they were written did not seem appropraite. In fact it came across as obscene, almost stomach- turning.
With everything I did feel uncomfortable reading the novel on some occasions. Not good for Christian fiction.

I'm not certain how accurate the setting was, and the historical details were at times interesting, but other deficiencies detracted from this. As with other books, I felt the descriptions of the supposed dirt, unhealthiness, unpleasantness and squalor which supposed blighted most cities throughout the `old days' was exaggerated and overdone. Even affluent areas like St James' Park stinking of manure, seriously?

Dominque's nocturnal wanderings in seedy areas of London seemed a common enough occurrence for some books in this genre. Yet not clever at all so her almost getting into trouble was hardly a surprise- until the mysterious man who was quite obviously an angel appeared to protect her.
I don't mean to appear facetious or irreverent, as the scripture does teach God can send angels to protect his people, but this happened in Veil of Pearls too so it seems to be quite a frequently used device, almost making it seem like an easy 'get out clause'.

I thank the author for emailing me the Kindle edition after alerting her to a copy uploaded to the internet without authorization, but due to two bad reading experiences I sadly do think I will steer clear of her books in future.
560704
On Beauty starts out so promising, but quickly loses its way.  A drama about two men (Howard Belsey, a liberal, non-religious English man, and Monty Kipps, a conservative right-wing Christian) who teach at a fictitious university outside Boston and their families has the makings of a great story.

Unfortunately, while it may impress intellectual critics, it fails to draw in the average reader. The initial few pages set the stage with Jerome Belsey sending e-mails to his father while living and working with the conservative Kipps family. After those few e-mails, the story never connects the dots. There is no lack of characters: Howard Belsey, Kiki Belsey, Jerome Belsey. Zora Belsey, Levi Belsey, Monty Kipps, Catherine Kipps, Michael Kipps, Victoria Kipps, faculty from the fictitious university, a group of street vendors and the people who make up the fringes of the school; however, we learn very little about any one character and On Beauty jumps from story to story with no actual beginning and no conclusion.

I finished the book only because I hoped to grasp a "greater" purpose this cast of characters would reveal but, if there was one, it escaped me.
161415
This book means well but is quite lacking in development of the characters. The characters are all flat and stereotypical--the protagonist in search of resolution of childhood trauma, her husband who is patient (and even sappy) to a fault, her siblings and aunt who pretend to be involved but aren't interested in anyone but themselves. From the glowing reviews this book received, I had expected Emma's grief to follow a much more complex path. Instead, she was cured of her trauma way too quickly, way too simply, and way too late in the book for any of it to be believable. With some more character development--at the very least, some actual conflict between Emma and her husband, or between Emma and her older daughter--this could be a much better book.
4116224
I tried to like this book, and mostly succeeded. It's well written and informative---up to a point. Perhaps all the pre-publication hype unrealistically increased my expectations. But I expected more. What I got was a collection of diary entries strung together to make a more or less coherent time-line of the year 1776, with the obligatory first chapter of background on the main characters figuring in the story. A decent map of Boston, New York, and Trenton, NJ, would have been a great help in following the narrative; instead, we got copies of contemporary British maps in which many of the roads and other features the author discussed were not shown. I read the whole book and was glad to be finished. The author's books on John Adams and Harry Truman were much better in their depth of treatment of the subject. This book lacks depth and analysis.
4124210
I had very high hopes for this first novel, especially when I read a review that said it was "not just a novel about race relations."  I found that it was, in fact, a very basic novel about race relations: whites in positions of power; African-Americans being subservient to whites; and the social heirarchy that existed in 1954.  There were a few parts of the book that were well-developed, but overall, many of the pivotal events that transpire in the book are just not dealt with in detail.  Thus, in many areas, the book fell flat.  Several catastrophic events were dealt with in a cursory manner without full development of what transpired as the event was unfolding, or the thought process in the mind of the character just prior to the event taking place.  I think that this author has a lot of promise; however, the overall plot line is thin, the subplots were weak and the depth of character development needs a bit of work. I also think that it is unfair to the author for me to have read this book AFTER having read such a great novel like The Help. In the back of my mind, I was contrasting the character development and plot lines between the two books and writing styles.  I hope I do not sound harsh when I say this, but there really IS no comparison.  However, I do have to give the author credit for developing a very likeable protagonist, 13 year-old Jubie Watts.  Overall, an easy read, but certainly not one I would recommend.
3188120
This is a book I was looking foward to reading.  My book club picked it for this month & I had read the reviews and I went into it very optimistically.

It started out great:  awesome intro, great, likable characters, and a strong plot.  And then...it just...fizzled.

There was little character development.  No backstory for a minor character that played a pivotal role in Andy's life...Brax didn't grow or develop; he was very static and wishy-washy - I liked him less as the book went on.  And the ending for one of the characters didn't make sense or seem to serve any purpose.

The author took a very meaty topic and tried to wrap a story around it encompassing the turmoil and tension and it was too much for him.

Also?  Apostrophe misuse is a HUGE issue for me and this book seriously needed more editing.
3978220
Undoubted Oogy is a great dog, amazing even, to have endured all those. Kudos too to Levin, to have poured in unconditional love to care for this damaged (yet unbroken) dog. However, there's just no story in the book, it fell dead flat starting from the first page until the end. It fails to live up to the promising premise of the book (a damaged yet unbroken dog, unconditional love only a family can bestow). It failed to put a smile on my face, to pull my heartstrings that I have hoped for from time to time. Ironically, the only part of the book that has bit of emotion in it was on the story about the kids adoption; which is not the center of the book and definitely not the reason I picked up this book. Just a disappointing book, doesn't really live up to the spirit and love of Levin to Oogy (or even of Oogy to Levin).
1241646
The idea to chart the final decay of civilisation from multiple realities  each more entropic than the last  was a premise full of possibility, and it set high expectations.  The books intelligent, flamboyant style was, at times, quite beautiful.  But as Lou Reed once sang: Between thought and expression there lies a lifetime.  And its in this space that I found the cycle as a whole disappointing  especially in the final third.

The narrative arc was lacking, and it felt like an impressionistic picture where no recognisable image emerged as you stepped back from the canvas.  To me, the link between obviously related people in the stories seemed tenuous - so that what might have been a unifying device and opportunity to deepen the characters ended up seeming like a confusing gimmick.  There are conceivable reasons why the author may have done this, but his intention remains unclear and the affect is distracting.

In fact, there are many examples of this sort of promising concept that end up serving a decorative function instead of providing an integrated plot element.  And the story fizzles out into a grey obscurity set against the puzzling apotheosis of the Bewlay brothers or something

There must be some kind of meaning I missed, or else that plague of torpor and lassitude was one of the few promising concepts which also served as an integrated plot element in the final act.
1395333
This was, in the end, a book falling tragically short of its potential.  Though, if I am to judge, the sequel should be an interesting read.

To say nothing of its themes, beliefs or messages, for all stories are at heart extensions of the author's own opinions and experiences, the novel itself and the story it presents seem to flit haphazardly from one genre to another, to the detriment of both sets of plates it attempts to juggle at the same time.  At times a romance, at others a thriller, sometimes one has the disturbing tendancy to overwhelm the other, much to the befuddlement of the reader.  The romance can come off fairly forced (and the 12 year timeskip in Leah's story particularly jarring), spanning generations, whereas the thriller struggles to gain momentum when the plot at last kicks into gear.

Perhaps it is the expected baggage of trying to tie in world-changing events when we are encouraged from the first page onwards to focus all our attentions on what is a very small community.  It is, in a nutshell, the neighborhood watch made to deal with global calamities, and they are simply not up to the task which is set before them.  Oddly enough Ryan, a catalyst with whom the plot thickens, is also the biggest obstacle to that very plot gaining any sort of momentum.  Being essentially an exposition machine, his appearances grind everything to an utter standstill in order for him to orate a) what might be happening in the world at large and b) what is happening in the world at large.  Surely there are better options than for one character (an FBI agent at that, who really comes off as more raving-mad-man on a street corner) to continually push his own opinions on others, seemingly with complete disregard for whether or not anybody is interested in hearing them.  Sadly, for those of us waiting for a coming swerve, it simply never arrives.  Ryan is infallible in his beliefs, integrity, and honesty, which makes for a very boring paragon, or indeed any character which turns out not to be an intentional caricature.

Which is not to say the novel is without its own merits.  By far the most interesting character, and the one easiest to root for, is Jesse, who seems to be alone in both his abilities and will to do something about the crisis lying at the center of the story.  Whereas the others have made do with a can of mace (or pepperspray, as it were), there is a gift in Jesse that heralds greater things in coming days.  The writing itself also deserves its own accolades.  It is easy to read, concise, and well moderated in tone, the telltale signs of an experienced hand.  The look into the lives and livelihoods of a small Amish community makes for an interesting setting.  And the hook as the book reaches its conclusion, with the prophecies rapidly realizing and the world plunging into chaos, makes for a vivid picture of what is to come.  The very image of a small religious caravan making their winding way through a post-apocalyptic United States with only their faith to protect and guide them makes for a far better case for an interesting read than any number of long-winded exposition pieces of the evils that plague society, even if they turn out to be true.  Color me, if not wringing my hands with expectations, then certainly raising an eyebrow with piqued interest at what comes next.

For, at the end of the day, the story must take precedent over all else, and it is ironic that we will find more room for growth for this particular tale at the end of the world than we will in the days just before.
1985956
This book was free to me through the Amazon First program.  The plot was a fine idea, and had a great deal of promise.  Ultimately, some rough secondary character development held the story back.  There were points where characters were too easily moved from one point of view to another, or were underdeveloped, and it detracted from the believability.  I also strongly suspect that some of the things they thought and said would never have had the impact they did at that point in history, no matter the passion behind the words.

One gets the feeling this was meant to be a "strong female characters" book.  On the one hand, I enjoy seeing women take a lead role in books.  On the other, some of it just did not mesh well with how the book described women as being treated then.  One moment the barriers are all there, the next they vanish after a speech?  She also rather undersold men in the process.  This creates the additional problem of making the women seem less than they could have been, since they seem to utterly miss so much fickleness when they are otherwise canny.

That being said, the heroine was likable and the villain both dislikable and not too stupid, so I appreciated that.  I enjoyed the few medical parts, and some of the religious content, which was not clumsily ostentatious as with other books that involve faith.  The descriptiveness of scenery could have been better, but the author conveyed emotion we'll both through words and character action.  In sum, not bad, and enjoyable enough.
1788098
The premise of this novel had great possibilities -- the development and growth of an on-line world destroying individual privacy expectations, a growth that is embraced by its participants.  Unfortunately, it fails to attain its initial promise.  The protagonist, Mae, is either purposefully vapid and dull or just not fully realized.  She is not an attractive character and why she would attract millions of followers in this make-believe world is a mystery.  Or perhaps that's the point :  even uninteresting people attract a following in a celebrity driven universe not because of any achievement but because of good publicists.  The growth of social networking sites and the  erosion of individual privacy as a direct result is a major issue.  Facebook and Twitter have blurred the lines between what is ours and what is shared.  The conclusion of this novel feel hurried and is unsatisfactory as a result.  This is a cautionary tale and in that respect, it is worth a read.