"The City of Mirrors" by Justin Cronin starts out slow but is an ultimately satisfying finale to The Passage trilogy

Fans of this trilogy have waited a long long time for the ending and it is finally here.  You absolutely should not read this book without having first read "The Passage" and "The Twelve."  If you have time, I strongly recommend re-reading (or listening to the audiobooks) the first two books before starting this book.  I know that is a lot of reading -- these books are big time commitments to read -- but I wish I had made time to re-read (or at least skim through) them again before starting this book.

The reason for revisiting the first two books is because it has been so long since The Twelve came out that I had not only forgotten a lot of the details of what happened in the first two books, but more importantly I had lost my emotional connection to the characters.  This meant it took me a long time to get invested in what was happening.

I have a warning for the fans of this trilogy who love the parts where the characters are fighting the virals/dracs and who didn't really care for the parts of the previous books that were more background or emotional -- you might have a hard time with the first couple hundred pages of this book.  But hang in there -- the payoff is worth it.

The book starts with a prologue that is a summary of what happened in The Twelve in the form of passages from a "historical book" presented at one of the global conferences on the North American Quarantine Period that have been a part of all the books.  This helped a little in reminding me what happened but not nearly as much as if I had re-read the books.  Then the book starts with a section on what Alicia did after the end of The Twelve, jumps three years to Texas, where most of the characters are living in what they believe to be a post-virals world. Then the story jumps back to Alicia where the reader learns the background of Zero/Fanning.  I don't want to go into any details because I don't want to spoil the book for anyone.

Fanning's story is a significant chunk of the first half of the book.  Readers who are anxious for viral-fighting action might be inclined to skip over it, but don't give in to the temptation.  (I am a notorious skipper and in fact succumbed once again, only going back to Fanning's story after I got a preview of what was coming ahead.  Don't be like me or you will spoil the book for yourselves.)  Fanning's story lays out the overall theme of the book and all the rest of the "background" parts of the story further embellish the theme as well as setting up the characters for what is to come.

I have always described these books as epic literary vampire thrillers and the first half of this book definitely puts the capital "L" in literary.  Even when I was impatient at the pace, the lovely quality of the writing captivated me.  It is not for nothing that the author is a literature professor -- he can write!

The author may also be a fan of classic vampire movies.  There are a couple visual references to the classic Dracula and Nosferatu movies that I really enjoyed.

It takes around 250 pages before the action starts heating up, but threads from those first couple hundred pages will wind their way through the rest of the book so don't just blow through them to get to the action!  It took me more than a week to read the first half of the book -- and during that time I was thinking it would be a 3 or 4 star book -- and only two days to finish the last half.  By the end it had reached the 5 star level for me.

By the last major section of the book, I was back completely emotionally invested in these characters and everything they had been living through.  That emotional connection had me tearing up numerous times over the last hundred or so pages -- and flat out bawling my eyes out as many more times.

This book answers a lot of questions that have been lingering over the first two books.  Why were scientists looking for this virus in the first place?  Why experiment on a little girl? Why was Amy different than the others? What is the story with the Global Conference that keeps turning up in the books?  And at the same time it raised more questions -- questions I can't put in this review or it will spoil parts of the book for readers!

The overarching theme of this book is love -- which seems strange for an epic literary vampire thriller.  All different kinds of love (or the lack of love) wind their way through the book.  Romantic love, unrequited love, familial love, and the love of long-time friends.  That depth takes this from being just another thriller to being something truly special.

I recommend reading this whole trilogy.  Read it even if you don't think you like vampire novels because it is just that good.

I received a free Advance Readers Copy of this book free through the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a review.

"The Watcher in the Wall" by Owen Laukkanen is a more personal entry in the Stevens & Windermere series

This book -- which comes out in March 2016 -- is the 5th book in the Stevens and Windermere series.  Although the story stands alone with some brief references to the case from the previous book in the series, I wouldn't recommend reading it without reading at least the first book in the series.  And really I think you should read at least the first couple books because you need to get the history of these characters and why they are working together and what the relationships are among the major characters.  You would still have a really interesting book to read but would lose a lot of the background.

"Watcher" starts out on a very different note from the stories earlier books in the series which all begin with a violent crime that has a Minnesota connection and in which the FBI gets involved.  This story starts out more quiet and sad -- with a bullied teen committing suicide.  Stevens gets involved because the teen was his daughter's classmate and Windermere has her own personal connection and it hits her hard.  For the first 100 pages, it looked like this book was going to be a dramatic change from the past books where the duo criss-crosses the United States hunting down the bad guys with some dramatic action scenes.  But never fear --  even though the beginning of the book is heavy on the touchy feely and on computer research, it doesn't stay passive for long.

If you are a fan of the series.for the action, don't be put off by what seems to be a departure from the usual formula.  You will get all the action you expect as the investigation reveals that there is more to this case than depressed and suicidal high school students.  I am not going to give away any spoilers, but will let you know that the action heats up in a big way.

But even when the action heats up, the personal aspect to the book stays with you.  One of the hardest parts of the book, both for one of the characters and also for me as a reader, is the description of how so many students laugh along with the bullies, not because they want to be mean to the target but to fit in themselves or out of a desire to not become a target of the bully themselves.  I have been out of high school for a very long time but one of my classmates recently shared on Facebook how much her bullying in high school negatively affected her life.  And I feel ashamed that I was too wrapped up with my own desire to fit in and be liked to notice what she was going through.

In the acknowledgements at the end, the author talks about his own struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts and encourages bullied or suicidal teens to talk to someone.  He even offers up himself.  I hope someone who needs it takes him up on the offer.

For the rest of us, enjoy another exciting Stevens & Windermere thriller!

The joke's on you, reader.

So there are basically two main elements to the book:
1) Where the heck are they and how do they get out alive?
2) What's with this guy who's an admiral but clearly not an admiral?

The first is handled with classic suspense/escape sensibilities - they come up with a plan, nearly succeed, plan fails and they're marginally worse off than before. Lather rinse repeat. This part holds together fine, it's a standard sci-fi model.

The second annoyed me tremendously. Within a few chapters, one of the underlings has figured out who the 'admiral' is, but they don't tell us. They drop hints like we know a darn thing about the worlds they come from. It's a series of inside jokes and the reader is on the outside. Throughout the whole book, exactly one paid off at all for me, and it was way too little after way too long. All the answers come in the final chapter, when two characters sit down and conveniently explain everything to the reader in a simple dialogue that no two human beings would ever have.

Will i read the next in the series? I don't know. It will depend a lot on whether it's building on these characters, or just the world they live in.

(I received a free ARC of this book from the Amazon Vine program.)

"The Rest of Us Just Live Here" will ruin YA SF/F for you, in a good way

"But what about everyone else?"

This is what Ness asks in the introduction (though i guess i'm not sure it'll appear in the published version, one can never be sure when reading an ARC). It seems like every YA book these days features, as he notes, "a Chosen One, who has secret abilities he's never known about or an incredible inner strength that she doubted was there. They're the only ones who can defeat the Big Bad, topple the government, free the people."

Of the hundreds of kids who line up in District 12, only Katniss and Peeta are sent to the Hunger Games. There are plenty of Divergents, but only Tris is divergent enough to do what needs to be done. Harry's just one wizard in a school full of wizards. What about Katniss's second cousin, George, who lives on the other side of town? What about Lisa, an abnegation/erudite just keeping her head down and hoping for the best while handing clothes out to the factionless? What about Jill, the quiet girl in Ravenclaw who would be the best in her year except that Hermione is always better? They have lives, too, you know.

Ness offers up what would be a pretty generic coming-of-age story, a gaggle of kids finishing their senior year of high school, with all the checkboxes ticked: unrequited love (or is it?!), The Gay Friend, The New Kid, distant parents, college angst, etc. But each chapter leads with a plot summary of the equivalent chapter in a Generic YA Book, with all the tropes and cliches and whatnot. While The Chose One is saving the world, Mikey is wondering if he'll ever kiss his dream girl, if he'll stay friends with his bestie when they go off to school.

And the thing is, i hate Coming Of Age stories. 17-year-olds wangsting about the same thing everyone else around them is also going through just makes me snippy. But the juxtoposition made the story. By comparing Mikey and his friends to some unlikely teens out saving the world, it makes the mundanity of getting ready for prom into something much more potent.

Of course, there's also the humor - these are a bunch of normal kids leading normal lives in a world just like ours except that, every few years, Something Goes Horribly Wrong and a Chosen One has to fix it. Casual references to what is, for them, everyday life, are just absurd when they involve the Undead Army interrupting final exams.

(I received a free ARC of this book from the Amazon Vine program.)

"The Wolves" by Alex Berenson takes the character John Wells to a darker place and I didn't care for it

This is Book #10 in the author's John Wells series of spy thrillers.  John Wells is a CIA agent (and later a deniable independent contractor for the CIA) who has spent most of his career infiltrating terrorist cells in Afghanistan and similar countries.  Along the way he converted to Islam -- his religious beliefs and practices form a distinct part of his character.  And like most "lone wolf" spy novel protagonists, he has a complicated personal and romantic life.

I haven't read all of the John Wells books but of the several I have read, this one was my least favorite.  The storyline follows directly from the previous book in the series, "Twelve Days," so you probably should read that book first to understand the context of how the characters relate to each other.

This book is almost the complete opposite of Twelve Days in tone and pace.  The pace in Twelve Days was frantic with Wells going from country to country -- Europe, Russian, Middle East, Africa -- in a very short period of time to try to keep the United States from being tricked into entering a war with Iran.  And it was heavy on the violence as well.  This book starts when events have had a little time to calm down and because there is not a deadline, the action moves more slowly from place to place and even within a set location.  The level of violence is significantly lower in this book, as is the degree to which Wells's physical ability to carry out his mission and escape from tight situations stretches the bounds of believability.  For the most part, Wells doesn't pull off physically improbable stunts.

However, instead of being about saving the United States, the story in this book is all about revenge.  I didn't like that part of the book -- it made the character of John Wells even darker than he has been throughout the series.

One interesting part was how much time the reader spends inside the heads of the bad guys.  They aren't just caricatures but fully formed people who justify their own actions.

If you like this series and this character, you most likely will enjoy this book as well.  I didn't care for the particular focus of this book, but it was still a fairly entertaining read.  Even though this book was merely OK for me 3 stars out of 5), I would still read the next book in the series.

I received an ARC free from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a review.

"Real Tigers (Slough House)" by Mick Herron is not the spy book I was expecting but definitely worth reading

This was not at all the book I was expecting from the blurb on the back of the book. I had not read any of the other Slough House books and always associate spy novels with nonstop action and page-turning speed. So I was a bit taken aback when the book started out fairly slow and "wordy" (by which I mean there are a lot of full paragraphs and not just the spare action and dialogue oriented prose you might see in an American thriller). Clearly this was not going to be a page-turner and I was tired and just wanted some mindless escapism so I nearly quit reading but was convinced to keep going and am glad I did.

The Slow Horses (which I only just now realize is a play on words of the building where they "work") are MI5 agents who have been pulled from official duty for various screw-ups and given make-work assignments designed to make them quit. These folks are not James Bond or any of the great fictional British spies. They are not especially heroic or competent and they don't appear to like each other very much. A lot of the wordy part at the beginning of the book gives the reader insight into these characters and what messes they have made of their lives. It can be slow reading, especially if you are expecting a spy thriller. If you get tempted to stop reading -- just keep going. There is a point to what you are reading and things will eventually start moving.

Just about the time you think the action is really going to start, you get more background but keep with it. This is definitely a book written by someone with a degree in English, not the typical American thriller that is often a mental movie script in novel form. It is much more character driven with a fairly involved plot. Sit back and enjoy the writing.  One of the benefits of so much of the book being about the characters and not just solid action is that it is not critical to have read earlier books in the series to be able to understand and enjoy this one.

I don't want to give out any plot details because it would spoil the surprises the author has built into the story. Right around page 114, I realized what kind of spy book this was going to be -- and it was nothing like I expected. For the rest of the book there were plots and counter-plots until you wonder who the good guys and bad guys really are and who is going to come out on top in the end. And I finally got more of the action I was originally expecting, even though the Slow Horses are not your typical spies.  By the time I finished, I was really glad I had kept reading even though it wasn't the book I had expected. This is definitely a thinking person's spy book -- a literary spy thriller. If all you want is page-turning action, this might not be the book for you. But I still recommend it because it will keep you on your toes.

I received an Advance Readers Copy of this book through the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a review.

Review: THE HUNGRIEST MOUTH IN THE SEA (by Peter Walters)

THE HUNGRIEST MOUTH IN THE SEA is a bright colorful book that is going to appeal to young animal lovers and adults like me who love to share science and nature with youngsters.

I think it's a great book to share because of the fun artwork and because it makes a nice read-aloud.

Floating out at sea, a cloud of green plankton

drifts with the tide, soaking up the sun.

But look-- a hungrier mouth

in the seas of the south!

Who would you say is heading this way?

It's not immediately clear but the focus of THE HUNGRIEST MOUTH IN THE SEA is a little unusual.  I don't know about you but so many ocean books that we've read are generic.  Peter Walter's book though focuses on the South Sea and it's unique Food Web. The author starts with algae and moves up from krill to white sharks and beyond.  The hook is 'who is the hungriest mouth'.

If you aren't acquainted with them one thing you might want to know is that these Arbordale Books allow you to adapt how you use the material to your child and situation.  If you want to get into more depth, for example, you can use the "For Creative Minds" section at the end of the book. These sections have more information and some activities.  There is predator and prey matching for example and food web cards and even a card game you can play.  Other activities can be found online!

--The Accelerated Reading level is 3.2.

--The Lexile level is 670.

--Can be shared with much younger children as the artwork is very appealing.

SUMMARY

I really like this book.  I found the artwork very appealing and I really like that the focus was on the South Seas eco-system.  The book is appropriate for a fairly wide range of children; though written on the 3rd Grade level.

I could see buying this for the home shelves or for a classroom book basket.

Pam~


HUNGRIEST MOUTH IN THE SEA:
(Arbordale Publishing)
by Peter Walters

Disclosure:  Review Copy received from publisher