Shade’s Children by Garth Nix. Sci-fi dystopian young adult thriller.
In Shade’s Children the planet has been taken over by mysterious beings. Every person over the age of 14 at the time of the takeover disappeared and humans are bred, aged 14 years and then become “meat.” The book follows a groups of young rebels who manage to escape captivity and are led by Shade, the last adult human on the planet.
Onward – to spoilers.
The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford. Gleefully sarcastic muckraking expose of the American funeral industrial complex.
I have read books that scared me, made me laugh or made me cry. This is the only book I have ever read that gave me a panic attack.
Continue reading The American Way of Death Revisited – Cannonball Read #10
I am right in the meat of Assassin’s Creed II right now and loving it. I adored the original and this has improved on the experience. It’s just super fun and I can’t wait for each new environment to play around in.
Ubisoft publishing Assassin’s Creed II Novel
I confess that I was, for an instant, totally into this.
More Ezio, more Assassin’s Creed, it’s a good thing, right? More explanation of his life, more revealed about Altair perhaps. More juicy, juicy plot! Romance, action, assassinations!
Shite.
I like running randomly over roofs, stealing every treasure I can find, making my horse gallop a lot and generally fucking around. I like jumping off of roofs without the leap of faith and seeing how far I can fall without dying. They will leave that out. Where in the novel will Ezio use all of his attacks and movements in the Animus loading screen to make a funky disco dance? Where!?
I don’t want to read their interpretation of how I should be playing the game and the adaptation of my playing style would be boring reading. Why don’t they just use the money they are spending on this to make more DLC?
[h/t to Destructiod]
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. A comparative biography of Abraham Lincoln and his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination of 1860 – Edward Bates, Salmon P. Chase and William H. Seward.
Spoiler: He dies in the end.
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies – by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
The premise of this book is incredibly hipsterific. Pride and Prejudice with zombies! Awesome! Elizabeth Bennett, expert zombie killer? How cool will that be?
Not very.
Continue reading Pride & Prejudice & Zombies – Cannonball Read #5
Sunshine by Robin McKinley. To quote Neil Gaiman “It’s not quite SF, and it’s not really horror, and only kind of a love story, and it’s all three while still being solidly Fantastique.”
Robin McKinley in my favorite author. There is no runner up, there is no debate. Since I first read The Hero and the Crown when I was about 14 I have devoured everything she has written. Sunshine not only did not disappoint, it blew my mind. Most of McKinley’s work is classified as Young Adult and this was her first book that was written for adult audiences. Not to say that adults can’t enjoy YA books, it’s my favorite genre, but this was her first book that was targeted directly at grown ups and featuring more material verging on an R-rating as well as being a more challenging read. I didn’t know that when I picked it up but I knew it before I was 20 pages in.
…and how I’m going to change it in three easy steps!!
I am behind on the Cannonball Read. The challenge is something like two and a half months old and I am supposedly on book three of fifty two.
Frankly, the holidays sucked and I gave in to the anxiety and the stress. But I’m not letting you down!! I’ve got two more books under my belt, reviews pending, a third in progress and two more queued up and ready to roll.
Here’s my plan –
Step 1) Read book
Step 2) Review book
Step 3) GOTO Step 1
With your faith and support, I can complete the Cannonball read!! Especially once I get off my duff and get the pages in.
-fyre
Stardust by Neil Gaiman. Fantasy, Nouveau Fairytale.
Well, I love me some modern takes on the fairy tale and I love me some Neil Gaiman (Sandman is tha bomb!!!!) so this seemed a prefect choice. More tellingly, I love the movie based on this book. I thought I was set up to love this book but it left me lukewarm.
The book follows Tristran Thorn as he leaves the village of Wall on a quest to win his one true love’s heart. He has marvelous adventures in the land of Faerie and, it being a fairy tale, he wins through to his goal! This is all you really need to know before you read this book in terms of plot. Gaiman’s genius for unique characters is in full effect as he populates both Wall and Faerie with memorable personalities and conceptions of magic.