Reaper Man

Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett
Fantasy
Death has been sent into unwanted retirement. He goes to work as a farmhand with Mrs. Flitworth. As he starts to find out what real life is all about, Death finds out he likes farm life and Mrs. Flitworth.

But there is no one to usher the dead off and souls and life force begin to build up. Winnie Poons,a wizard, died but has since returned to his body and the remaining wizards are not happy. The wizards try to put Poons' body to rest but do not succeed.

As the life force builds cities want to grow and it is up to the undead to rectify the problem.

I love the character Death. As for the wizards, it is difficult to understand what they are about. I did however enjoy Pratchett's weird form of changing everyday things like the shopping carts. Very good satirism

First Line: "The Morris dance is common to all inhabited worlds in the multiverse."
Rating:
(3.5/5)

Remember When

Remember When by Nora Roberts & J. D. Robb
Mysterygoes
This book contains two stories.

Laine Tavish is a small town antique store owner. She has escaped a life on the run with her father, Big Jack O'Hara. Jack was a con man and thief. Laine has settled down to a nice rural life when her long-lost uncle comes into her store, gives her a cryptic message and runs outside to die from a car accident. Soon afterwards Laine's house is ransacked.

Max Gannon is working with the insurance company to find some diamonds which have been stolen. Max and Laine team up to find her father and the diamonds.

The second story is an In Death one.

Samantha Gannon arrives home to find her home-sitter and best friend dead. Samantha was on a book tour promoting her book about her grandparents, Laine and Max Gannon.
Was the murder because someone was looking for the diamonds that weren't recovered?

This was an interesting concept for a book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and felt it was not at all like reading two short stories. It was intriguing how the two stories even though written by the same person had slightly different styles.

First Line: "A heroic belch of thunder followed the strange little man into the shop."
Rating:
(4.0/5)

Mort

Mort by Terry Pratchett
Fantasy
Mort is a young farmboy who goes to the market in search of a job. He is still there at midnight long after most people have been taken when
"Death comes to us all.
When he came to Mort, he offered him a job."

Mort is apprenticed to Death. Death teaches him how to usher a life to the next world and other intricacies of his job. Then Death takes a rest and leaves Mort to do the job. Mort does not do well when he encounters a princess who is supposed to die and he just can not let that happen. The world is now out of synch and will anything to 'right' itself.

This is the first Discworld book I have read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved how Pratchett strings the words together and turns everything upside down or sideways.

First Line: "This is a bright candlelit room where the life-timers are stored - shelf upon shelf of them, squat hourglasses, one for every living person, pouring their fine sand from the future into the past."
Rating:
(4.0/5)

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent by Veronica Roth
Teen

Beatrice Prior is from the faction Abnegation, which is know for its selflessness. There are four other factions that one may belong to in this new society, which was created because they thought this would stop wars from happening. Just before your 16th birthday, each teen is given a test to determine which faction they belong to. On choosing day they are allowed to either stay with their current faction or change to a new one, where they remain for the rest of their lives. When Beatrice takes her test though, there are abnormalities. She qualifies for three different factions, which isn't supposed to happen. She is divergent and being divergent is a very dangerous thing.

I'm sure like many, this will bring back reminders of The Hunger Games. It has many similarities: a strong female lead character, a new society broken up in different ways, dissension and more. This book had me hooked but I found it a somewhat slower read than The Hunger Games, which I blazed through. This book was enjoyable, I really liked thinking what if. What faction would I be placed in? Not as enjoyable as The Hunger Games but pretty close.

First Line: "There is one mirror in my house."

Rating:
(4/5)

Visions in Death by J.D. Robb

Visions in Death by J.D. Robb
Mystery

Eve Dallas gets a call on the way home from a party with her husband Roarke to a park in NYC, due to a homicide. The scene is rather grisly. A single mother walking home at night, she is beaten, raped and strangled before posed and her eyes cut out. Eve knows she needs to stop this guy before he kills again and she's helped in a very unlikely way. A sensitive, who can see visions and read people, visits Eve telling her that she saw the crime happen in her visions. She describes things that haven't been released to the public. Eve isn't quite sure what to make of her but uses it as assistance to the investigation.

I think this was one of the better 'in death' books. The investigation wasn't pretty, there was a lot of painstaking details that needed to be tracked down, which made it feel more real. I also think that Detective Peabody came a bit more in to her own in this book. Finally, there was a nice twist at the end that I wasn't expecting.

First Line: "She'd gotten through the entire evening without killing anyone."

Rating:
(4/5)

River, Cross My Heart by Breena Clarke

River, Cross My Heart by Breena Clarke
Fiction/Literature

Johnnie Mae is a 12 year old living in the Black community of Georgetown, DC in the 20s. Her family just moved north from the south, believing there were more opportunities for Johnnie Mae and her younger sister Clara. However when Clara drowns in the river during a summer swimming outing, Johnnie Mae and the family change forever. Johnnie Mae believes it was her fault since she was responsible for looking out for her younger sister. Now, whenever she sees water it affects her.

I picked up this book because it was on Oprah's list and her recommendations are usually pretty good. This is definitely not one of them. This book felt like ramblings about a family to me. There really wasn't much of a start and there certainly was no conclusion, which made me feel like there was no point to the book. I almost dropped it half way through but figured that something of interest would have to happen in the second half of the book. Guess what? It didn't.

This is a completely pointless book.

First Line: "Dangerous ideas come to life and spread like sparks on dry twigs."

Rating:
(2/5)

A Clash of Kings

A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
Fantasy
Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon, King of the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms are dead. There is now turmoil and several men declaring themselves to be king. Robert's son Joffery, young, cruel and arrogant is the obvious king but is controlled by the Lannisters. His mother Cersai and his uncle Tyrion each try to put forth their own agendas. Robb Stark has declared himself the King of the North. Robert's brothers, Renly and Stannis have also declared themselves kings.

At the same time, the Wildings , north of the wall are amassing and might move south just as summer turns into winter.

Political intrigue, brotherly rivalry and people masquerading as servants while the country dissolves into war are all part of the story.

I found the story was sluggish in parts. About halfway through, the story did pick up and proceeded at a quicker pace. My two favourite characters are Arya and Bran. Both of them are so courageous.

First Line: "The comet's tail spread across the dawn, a red slash that bled above the crags of Dragonstone like a wound in the pink and purple sky."
Rating:
(4.0/5)

Three in Death

Three in Death by J. D. Robb
Mystery
Three great novellas in the In Death series (7.5,12.5, 22.5)

Interlude in Death

Eve must go to the off planet resort, Olympus to give a speech. She meets a legendary cop that wants to put Roarke behind bars because Roarke's father was one of the crooks who got away. When the cop's bodyguard is murdered, Eve must find the killer before Roarke is charged .

Midnight in Death

One of the serial killers Dallas has already put away escapes. This killer has a list of who put him away starting with Judge Wainger who has shown up dead and tortured in Rockefeller Square and ending with Dallas. Dr. Mira is also on this list. This is a more personal one.

Haunted in Death

Eve Dallas gets a surprise when she goes to Twelve East Twelfth and finds a dead body with gunshots wounds and even more surprising is the over eighty year old skeleton. Ghosts couldn't have killed so, who was the murderer. A bit of paranormal and some old fashioned detective work in this short story.

I do not usually enjoy short stories but these were interesting and great to read

First Line: "The Faces of murder were varied and complex."
Rating:
(4.0/5)

Deep Purple by Mayra Montero

Deep Purple by Mayra Montero
Fiction/Literature/Erotica

Agustin Caban is a music critic that's retiring from the newspaper where he writes reviews about the local orchestra. His old boss convinces him to write a memoir of the musicians he has met and, consequently, slept with. Caban examines those whom he has had sexual trysts, both male and female, with and compares them to the instruments they have mastered.

The substance in this book is lacking. It seems that the author wished to write an erotic book and this was the best idea she could come up with to excuse her pornographic writing. It would be interesting to explore the commonalities between a person and the instruments they play but I was disappointed by the way it was done here. Caban is a married man, yet he's writing a book on his affairs? I'm sure his wife would enjoy that.

I think the only thing I can say is that this is written better than a standard erotica novel usually is.

First Line: "Saying good-bye to one's profession is like saying good-bye to sex, one clings to it, I cling to this brief piece of writing as if it were a woman's body, the last I will ever embrace in my life."

Rating:
(2.5/5)

My Abandonment by Peter Rock

My Abandonment by Peter Rock
Fiction

Caroline is a thirteen year old that lives with her father in a forest park in Oregon. They have lived there for four years and are very careful to make sure that no one finds them. They move their camp every so often, they only walk on stones so the grass doesn't look flattened, and they have perches in the tree to watch if anyone is coming. They go in to town every so often to purchase food items.

Caroline's father teaches her school subjects but is also very strict. There are many things she can't do and when a runner comes upon their camp one day, Caroline believes its her fault he sees her so doesn't tell her dad for fear he'll get upset. The runner comes back with police though, and brings Caroline and her father in to the police station, which may cause their lives to be completely changed.

The premise of this book is quite interesting. People can live off the grid and can't integrate back in to society. I thought the portrayal of Caroline was well written. She didn't have the social graces that a regular 13 year old would have but she was still quite smart. The father, however, I was always a bit suspicious of.

The ending of this book was quite a disappointment and looking back on the story, there were some things that just didn't make sense. Unfortunately I found that the book started falling apart about 2/3rd the way through it.

First Line: "Sometimes you're walking through the wood when a stick leaps into the air and strikes you across the back and shoulders several times, then flies away lost in the underbrush"

Rating:
(3.5/5)

The Eskimo Hunts in New York

The Eskimo Hunts in New York by Stefan Kanfer
Mystery
Jordan Gulok is an ex-navy SEAL on assignment in New York.  Gulok is an Inuit.  He works for the Navy but is a lone operator so that the Navy can dis-associate with him if necessary.  His main contact Rear Admiral Clausen has been assassinated and he is now truly alone.  His assignment is to determine the business of Argo.  Ostensibly, Argo is a company that sells sporting equipment around the world.  There are pointers that seem to show that Argo is selling illegal pharmaceuticals such as those used for controlling hypertension, heart conditions, etc.  These drugs are not made properly and when sold have caused injuries and deaths.  There is a great profit to be made from this illegal business.

Argo was controlled by a Turk but now is operated by a faction of the Russian Mafia.  Gulok tries to follow all his leads but someone is always one step ahead of him.  Is there a mole in the Navy?  Rose Ho from the Navy Office helps Gulok out and seems to be his only ally.  In the midst of all this New York is experiencing a blizzard which is shutting the city down. 

This story is a fast-paced mystery which is a delight to read.  I loved the Inuit philosophy interspersed between the chapters.  This gave some insight into Gulok's thinking and background.  Can't wait to see what this Eskimo hunts in Miami!

First Line: "The darker side of the human spirit is not refined away by civilization."

Buy this Book

Rating:
(4.0/5)