Deb E Reads (& writes)

I liked it well enough. A little too much of a filter between the action & me for me to be fully drawn in (too many MC opinions), but not too shabby.

Really quite good, although I kept getting the feeling that there should have been a flashing neon light now and then flashing "MESSAGE"... But, hey... Holder is a far better teenage male role model than Edward, so who am I to complain?Basically, the first half is kinda cute as the relationship develops. Then it's all: "This horrible thing happened and this is a good way to deal with it" x lots.Gosh... um... but I did like it. I did. I didn't like Sky much to start with - she's pretty blunt, and I'm not - but she grew on me. Holder was almost too perfect, but that's OK... now and then we need someone we can point to and say "This is how you do it, boys". He's that good.Oh. And the title is on the cover several times... I didn't need it drummed into me quite so obviously within the book. But, hey, that's just me.

Let's say that's a 3.5 stars...It was an interesting read for me. I admit, I read books very differently since I took up writing myself, so it can make it harder to review. This one was particularly interesting because it is Epic Fantasy, and yet manages to be character-driven. There is a "bigger picture" going on, but there were points in there when I really started to root for the characters.That being said, there were other times when I was thrown out of the characters and knew I was reading a book. And Kiana cries a lot. I'm not big on crying in books. It's just not my thing. So, it took me awhile to settle into the book, because right from the get-go, Kiana's world is turned upside down and she is crying. Understandable, yes. But, if I'd just met her, I would have been politely hugging her and patting her back and looking around for someone who actually knew her to palm her off to... Call me insensitive... Go on.I suppose I would have liked a few pages to get to know her first.That being said, about 10-15% in I was away. I was starting to care about Kiana and Skaric in particular and things were good. There was action, drama, and developing emotions.However, somewhere in there I got a little lost. I think I didn't quite understand all the magic that was happening, and I didn't quite understand some of the character reactions to things (like the emerging truths about their gods). This may come down to my background versus the characters' backgrounds. They feel things that I wouldn't, and so it felt a little melodramatic at times... to me... not to say it will to everyone.I didn't like much of the text in italics.I liked the fire magic and its consequences. I almost felt like that could have been explored more deeply, and pretty much driven a novel of its own. Really cool concept.Anyway, I do look forward to reading more from Clare.

My son (2) has his favourite children's book, this one is mine. Its rhythm is a little more complex than the average children's poem - you have to pay attention to the punctuation, but it makes it that much more fun to read! I love the rhythm and the journey Lenny Lassoo takes.

So, there's this chick, and she has this ghostly-lookin' hand... weird, huh? Yeah, well, that's just the start of it...This story is really nicely paced to keep you guessing what might be going to happen next. I'm not going to say it was full of surprising twists and turns, because most of them I guessed earlier--not because I'm magic, but because the clues were all there, in a good way. The breadcrumbs were dropped drawing me in, wanting to see if I was "right"... And this book taught me how to make an important non-POV character rootable... uh... not in that way... well, kinda, but, I mean the kind of character you root for. Ya know. Well, this book, and "Hart of Dixie" and [b:Beautiful Lies|171109|Beautiful Lies |Lisa Unger|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320525593s/171109.jpg|1024495] (which, while it had some pretty big issues, was actually a good read... basically because the main male character was hawt)... Perhaps it is just a theme I've been pondering lately, and all these things happened to coalesce in my brain at the same time... any way, can someone say tangent?What I'm trying to say is that I cared about what happened to the characters, I care about what will happen to them in the future, and I enjoyed this journey.Great last line, by the way (do NOT spoil it for yourself by jumping ahead, though, people).Oh, and this is the first time my name has appeared in a book... yeah... I totally made the acknowledgements. *buffs fingernails over shirt*... yeah...If you like YA, I suspect you'll like this one. Like a bit of Spiderman? Batman? I could see this appealing, too... There aren't many people I wouldn't say "Give it a go" to.

Really, really good. Like, *really* enjoyable. If I owned it in paperback, would I carry it with me, pulling it out & admiring it for how much I love it? Perhaps not. But I would recommend it to just about anyone. Depending on where you are in your reading journey, I think this story would appeal to just about anyone. Except maybe sour-pusses... but, meh to them.

The characters are gorgeous, the adventure swashbuckling, the writing excellent. On a technical level, as well as artistic & emotional heart, this is delightfully awesome.

Update: I've bumped up my rating because, for what it is (a romantic comedy), this is excellent stuff... A little bit "A Midsummer Night's Dream"-y... A delightful read.

Really, really good. Like, *really* enjoyable. If I owned it in paperback, would I carry it with me, pulling it out & admiring it for how much I love it? Perhaps not. But I would recommend it to just about anyone. Depending on where you are in your reading journey, I think this story would appeal to just about anyone. Except maybe sour-pusses... but, meh to them.The characters are gorgeous, the adventure swashbuckling, the writing excellent. On a technical level, as well as artistic & emotional heart, this is delightfully awesome.Update: I've bumped up my rating because, for what it is (a romantic comedy), this is excellent stuff... A little bit "A Midsummer Night's Dream"-y... A delightful read.

Non-Compliance: The Sector is the tale of a kick arse chick living the best life she can in a Non-Compliance Sector, in a world where those who choose to live a compliant life, accepting the insertion of a microchip, are kept in relative comfort, while those to refuse to submit to such control are shunned. Most of the people who choose to live a non-compliant life are decent people, they just don't want to live under such heavy-handed control. But some are a little more rough around the edges, and Shea tends to find herself dealing with these folks. It's a recipe for action, with the leaders of the non-compliant seeking almost as much control as the leaders of the compliant.So, what didn't I like?It took me a while to really understand the stakes on the table. I'm going to put that down to me not being a big dystopian/scifi/cyberpunk reader, so it took me awhile to get into things. That's fine. An author should not hold their reader's hand. It's up to me to decide whether or not to give the book a second go (which I think I will at a later date), with a little more understanding under my belt (I'm going to do that same for [b:The Blinding Knife|12499290|The Blinding Knife (Lightbringer, #2)|Brent Weeks|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1338432693s/12499290.jpg|17484647]).There were times when I felt things could have been explored further. Some things were skipped over that I would have liked to see - some conversations, some investigations and information gathering. Part of me thought that if I had seen the effort it took to research things than I would have been more worried when things looked shaky. Again, it may be that people already fans of these genres might not need to see these things so deeply. I don't know.Personally, I didn't 100% gel with Shea, which is something I look for in a book. But she still had her moments. She was someone I'd be happy to be an aquaintence of, but I'm not sure how she and I would get on if we were always in each other's space...What did I like?As you've probably seen already... the torture scene. That was pretty imaginative! I'm a real nicey-nice goodie-two-shoes in real life, so I'm very curious about the ways in which people can be cruel to one another. This was nicely done.I like that the ending leaves an opening for more to come. I suspect things are going to get very interesting around the NCS. I am interested in seeing that. And by the time that one comes around, I should have a little more world knowledge behind me, so that will be good.Some of the dialogue was very sharp and humorous. While I got over the "Get your knickers out of a twist" line pretty quickly (but that's OK, it's a character trait - and then you see other characters start to pick it up, which I'm sure is a sign of the relationship developments... you know, you hang out with someone enough you start talkign like them) - there was more to come. Definitely a few giggle-worthy moments.On the whole, it's a decent quick read - worth picking up to pass a weekend!PS: Oh yeah... And right off the bat, I was a little unsettled that that bad guy was called Danny Rose... that's my cousin, dude! (But I'm sure that happens all the time...)

Marked improvement of writing skill from Book 1 onwards... this is a good thing.Fact is, though, I probably wouldn't have kept reading Book 1 if it hadn't been for the TV series... I am curious to see the direction the books take, though.

I really liked this. I was drawn into caring about the characters, and their relationships with each other. Only thing that stopped me rating it "Amazing" is that I wasn't left "in love with" any of the characters... I was good mates with them, but it didn't break my heart to put the book down, and, yes, that's something I look for in a book.Really worth reading, though. And I really, really liked it... perhaps even worth a 4.5 stars from me, but I don't like to diminish my 5-star ratings. Yes, better written than some of my 5-star rated books, but it's that emotional pull that matters for that rating.

I did enjoy it. Found I floundered a bit in the middle, but things kept moving. I still love the magic system. I was a bit thrown by some of the things the characters did... but perhaps another read through might help with that. I wanted to like it more. So, it's probably deserving of 4 stars... I wanted a 5 star book... and it's a good read... especially the last few chapters - things get sharp and fast and intrigue abounds... really, really good.

I'm going to say that I liked this, because I did. Really liked it? Hmm, no, I don't think so.I really liked the opening - Brent Weeks has a real talent for introducing his characters and putting you right in the action without losing you. But, later, I did find I got a bit lost. There were twists and turns and double-crosses that, eventually, I stopped "backing" some characters - I just didn't care anymore. And the main love interest, Elene ... she got a bit boring. I was actually rooting for Kylar to change his mind and go after Vi - she was cool and deserved some happiness. I think it was her flaws that drew me to her, actually.It's an enjoyable enough read, with shades of real promise. I can see why it's popular; Mr Weeks does have some talent.I'm glad I read [b:The Black Prism|7165300|The Black Prism (Lightbringer, #1)|Brent Weeks|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327921884s/7165300.jpg|7534979] before I read this. I fear that if I'd read this first, I wouldn't have picked up Mr Weeks' latest offering. Maybe/Maybe not hard to know for sure. But the newer offering shows signs of improvement in my opinion. I've already ordered my copy of the next book!

I liked it. But, I'm not going to go raving about it - partly because I'm sure anyone who's interested has already heard about it, and partly because it lacked something I seek when I read: a real connection to the characters. And, I can accept that. I don't think that was the goal of this book. So, that's fine. It's YA. It's brief. It creates a sense of drama and suspense.But, it also felt formulaic. Not least because it was actually divided into three parts ... 3-Act structure, anyone? Right off the bat I thought "This was written to be turned into a movie". To me, it was written for a movie-watching audience. That's not a terrible thing. And, it was a fun ride.Oh, the other thing was that I thought it was way older than it is. It totally surprised me to see the "First published in 2008" in there. Why? Because I am sure I've seen a movie on this idea previously. With adults rather than kids, but still. So, no, it didn't feel it was totally original and wow.That's not to say it's not good. It's an enjoyable and (for me) light read.I know some people would be like "What? Light?!" (where is that interrobang key?). But, yes, for me, light. I wasn't drawn into Katniss. And so, I didn't feel the losses. The drama felt designed to make me feel the losses, but I didn't. I think it's a show vs tell thing. We were told that Rue reminded Katniss of Prim. So, we could see that it would be sad for Katniss to see anything happen to that wee girl. But, because of the brevity of the book, a lot of the real meat of the characters was skipped over. So, no, I didn't feel much. I read it. And it kept me interested in just how things would turn out (I mean, it was obvious (people were gonna die, Katniss was gonna survive), but there were enough little twists to keep the "just how is she gonna play this?" alive).It's a good YA story. And, it's worth considering the ideas presented. But, no, it's not my favourite read. I'm sure the movie is good, though.

So, "Don't judge a book by it's cover" ... in this case, it was fair for me to. When I was looking to randomly spend some money on a new book or two, I saw this series, but, instead chose Brent Weeks' later effort The Black Prism. Why? Because the covers of this series screamed "Teenage boys' dream" to me ... And, that's how it read to me, too. Granted, I did enjoy it, but it lacked a certain something that I was after.This is a first novel from an accomplished writer.It started strong - we met our main character, Azoth (later Kylar), and his friends and saw their dismal life. We rooted for Azoth to get out of there, and to get his friends out, too. Great start. I care.I think the trouble started when Mr Weeks started to get all the twists and turns in there. Twists and turns are great - keep the reader guessing. Only, don't keep the reader guessing so much that they no longer know who to care for because they might actually turn out to be a bad guy ... I think other reviewers have mentioned this lull. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what it is, but I think it was a growing confusion, or, maybe a stepping-back because I was too busy concetrating on all the dropping hints to stay with the characters. Whatever it was, it was there. My other gripe would have to be the love story. It was such a huge part of the story, but we never got to know the love interest, Elene, not really, and so, I didn't really care. We knew Kylar found her attractive and "pure", but we didn't know her. If he had had his head turned by another girl, I would have accepted it ... just sayin'. It meant that when things finally went their way, I was turning from the page, finger pointed down throat, going "urgh!" On a brighter note - now I know that boys do like to read romance just as much as girls.However, having read Brent Weeks' later novel The Black Prism, I know he has improved as a writer/storyteller. With that in mind, I expect this series to improve as it goes on. So, I will be reading the rest. Question is, do I wait for my order to turn up, or do I need to go get the next book out of the library?

'You gotta read this! No, really. C'mon, there's a maa-aap.'Yes, I am one of the sad saps who read to the end of the acknowledgements. OK, so I'm not entirely certain how I feel about some of the characters. But, I did feel rather attached to one in particular (and even him I'm not totally sure about how perfectly moral he is ... but, mostly he tries), and that counts for a lot. Would I like to read the next one? Yeah, I'd be tempted to give it a go. Only problem I see is if my fave character bows out too early. But, I can see a chance he might make it a bit longer. If so, then I'm sure I could go the whole trilogy.I really like this idea of light magic - the visual imaginings were fun (picturing people with bright lights flashing out of their hands and the like). Yeah, it was cool.It could have been a huge risk having a super powerful protagonist, but he has enough issues going on around him that he has the potential for everything to come crashing down any minute ... that's a pretty big weakness.Kip, I didn't totally gel with. Don't know if I ever will. But, maybe his recklessness can be put down to his being a teen. I don't know. I think what bothered me most was how quick he went from "Poor me" to "Die you bastards" several times ... and it just seemed to happen. As the book progressed we got a little more internalization that let us see the switch, but there were a few times I missed it, and it threw me off kilter as far as Kip goes.And, I wish that Dazen wasn't called Dazen. I can't pronounce it in a way that sounds sexy to me at all. And I so, so wanted to ... 95 relatively short chapters still adds up to a lot of words. But, there was a point in there where I didn't want them to stop ... and, yes, I am going to miss one or two of these guys while I wait on the next volume. So, I consider that a victory for Mr Weeks. Well done, that man.30 January 2012: And this is where I admit... I would NOT have picked up this book if it had had the new cover... The cover *I* picked up (the one associated with my review) drew me in... But, I guess they want a different kind of reader...

OK. I'm going to clarify that I really liked the FIRST TWO books of this trilogy ... and didn't bother with book three. Mervyn Peake was a wonderful describer - he could describe the same mountains from three angles and it would just make them that bit more 3-D ... if you could be bothered reading to the end of the description. I admit, I often skipped.However, the cast of characters is delightful. I LOVED Steerepike (of course, this may have been helped by my picturing Jonathan Rhys Meyers from when he played the role in the BBC production, but, no, I think the character was awesome). I don't think I've sympathized with a bad dude quite so much ... hmm ... should read this again for inspiration. I didn't, however, like Titus. He bored the shit out of me (no, not literally). He was dull in the TV show, he was dull in the book. So, when I saw the title of book three ("Titus Alone") I was put off going further. Still ... those first two books, yes, I'd say "read 'em", they're fun.