SeVeN » Book Reviews

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

SeVeN — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 16:09:37 +0000

“Everybody has a story. It’s like families. You might not know who they are, might have lost them, but they exist all the same. You might drift apart or you might turn your back on them, but you can’t say you haven’t got them. Same goes for stories. So,” she concluded, “everybody has a story. When are you going to tell me yours?’

It’s been a while since I have read a really good book. The kind you get lost in. The Thirteenth Tale was exactly that type of book for me.

World renowned author, Vida Winter, has been telling tales for six decades. All of which have brought her much fame and fortune. However, none are as sought after as the missing thirteenth tale. For years reporters and would be biographers have hounded Ms. Winter for this mysterious story or for the story of her life, but all have walked away empty handed. It isn’t until she is old and frail that Ms. Winter seeks out the daughter of a bookshop owner, Margaret Lea, to tell her story to; the real story.

The Thirteenth Tale is a perfect book to curl up on the couch with on a rainy weekend, enjoy a cup of tea and get swept up in an old fashioned tale that will have you guessing until the end.

All morning I struggled with the sensation of stray wisps of one world seeping through the cracks of another. Do you know the feeling when you start reading a new book before the membrane of the last one has had time to close behind you? You leave the previous book with ideas and themes — characters even — caught in the fibers of your clothes, and when you open the new book, they are still with you.

Breaking Dawn ~ Stephenie Meyers

SeVeN — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:19:19 +0000

Hallelujah!!! I am finally done with this damned series.

Ugh, what a long winded ordeal this was. The entire book revolves around the imminent war between the Cullens and these ancient Italian vampires.

Bella and Edward get married, they consummate their marriage on some island, and Bella immediately gets pregnant. Vampires can reproduce in such a manner? Apparently so. This is before Bella has been transformed into a vampire, mind you. This means that the baby is a half-human, half-vampire combination. The birth of the baby nearly kills Bella, but Edward manages to “save” her by injecting her with his venom, thus turning her into a vampire – finally. Apparently there is a law amongst vampires that it is illegal to turn a baby into one of the undead. The child is witnessed by another vampire who reports it to the Italian dudes and thus imminent war.

It is truly unfortunate that Meyer had to drag this book out to some 500 or so pages. It really could have been half the length and still gotten the point across. It got so bad that I was hoping for the Apocalypse to happen and kill everyone; humans, vampires, werewolves, etc. The predictability really started to get boring.

I haven’t watched the movie – yet. I did, however, waste some bandwidth and downloaded it the other day. I guess I’m just a glutton for punishment.

Dead and Gone ~ Charlaine Harris

SeVeN — Wed, 27 May 2009 02:42:33 +0000

I have now caught up with the author, meaning there are no more Sookie books for me to read until Harris cranks out another one. At least the next season of True Blood will be starting soon and I can get my vampire fix that way. The books are definitely fun. The best way I can describe them is that they are like pieces of candy. They are sweet little books with fun characters and a nutty story line. I’m not sure what else Harris can come up with. We have vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, witches, fairies, and demons. I suppose there’s always some hobbits and trolls.
Whatever she comes up with, I hope Harris doesn’t take too long to bring us the next installment of the Southern Vampires

New Moon ~ Stephenie Meyer

SeVeN — Sun, 17 May 2009 00:01:18 +0000

OK, at what point did anybody else start getting irritated with the main character, Bella? Plus the whole love triangle thing between human, vampire and werewolf just really isn’t working for me. Having said all that, I will finish up the series. It looks like there is only one book to go. Apparently, the author had written a draft for another novel. This somehow got leaked and ended up all over the Internets. There is a little sample of the draft available and it looks as if she is going to pull herself up by her boots straps and actually finish the dang thing. Oh, goody.

Twilight ~ Stephenie Meyer

SeVeN — Sat, 02 May 2009 23:29:43 +0000

Well, I sped through the Sookie Stackhouse books and am now caught up with the entire vampire series by Charlaine Harris. So, in order to keep going on the whole vampire kick that I am apparently on, I decided to embark on the Twilight series. Talk about a quick read. I got through the first book in two days; nowhere near as racy as Harris’ vampires, but then the intended audience is much younger also. There are some similarities between the two writers as far as story line goes and Meyer is definitely not going to win any awards for her writing skills, but the story was fun, the characters likeable, a bit predictable. Book two is waiting for me at the library. It will be interesting to find out what happens with Bella and her obsession with Edward.

Heart Shaped Box ~ Joe Hill

SeVeN — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:09:55 +0000

Joe Hill (aka Joe King), the son of my favorite author, Stephen King, has written a very good ghost story. If I sound a bit shocked it’s because I was. I’ll admit to being somewhat jaded before I even began the book. How much would this book read like an attempt to copy Stephen King? It was similar in the fact that the genre is the same. And I’m sure that he has been influenced by his father’s writing and there’s nothing wrong with that. The story was well written, fast-paced and not completely predictable. Would I have read it had I not known that Joe was King’s son? Unless I read a review that caught my attention, probably not. But now that I know of him, I will be picking up a copy of his next book.

From Dead to Worse ~ Charlaine Harris

SeVeN — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:13:48 +0000

From Dead to Worse is number eight in the Sookie Stackhouse vampire series. Basically, it’s the same theme as the other seven; vampires, werewolves, shape shifters, oh my. One complaint that I have in regards to this book is that there wasn’t enough of Eric. Yep, I hate to have to admit to it, but Eric has definitely caught my attention. Book number nine is due out May 5th in hardcover. I already have it on hold at the local library.

The HBO series is rumored to be starting up again in June. It will be fun to see what direction the show takes after reading the books.

The Empty Chair ~ Jeffrey Deaver

SeVeN — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 02:44:07 +0000

This title is another Lincoln Rhyme novel. I have to say that I was a bit disappointed with this one. The Empty Chair was simply not a very thrilling thriller. Especially after reading The Bone Collector and The Coffin Dancer. However, I think Jeffrey Deaver is a great author and I enjoy reading his books. This one just happened to fall flat for me. The pace never picked up to reach page-turning craziness. Instead the story line plodded along with characters who were as uninteresting as the plot. The few twists and turns that were thrown in were predictable. Deaver created a wonderful character in Lincoln Rhyme. A brilliant criminologist confined to a wheelchair due to an accident that turned him into a quadriplegic. Hopefully, The Empty Chair was a fluke. I look forward to picking up the next Lincoln Rhyme novel.

The Sookie Stackhouse Books ~ Charlaine Harris

SeVeN — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 02:09:03 +0000

I caught vampire fever after watching the first season of “True Blood”. Now, I don’t normally read these type of books. They are a bit girly and predictable. Having said that, I actually got caught up in reading them. Of course, I was spending a lot of time in hospital waiting rooms and didn’t have much else to do. The boxed set contains the first seven books of the series:

“Dead Until Dark“
“Living Dead in Dallas“
“Club Dead“
“Dead to the World“
“Dead as a Doornail“
“Definitely Dead“
“All Together Dead“

The eighth book in the series, “From Dead to Worse“, is due out in paperback on March 31st and the ninth book is slated for May in hardcover. I might as well keep on reading.

Cryptonomicon ~ Neal Stephenson

SeVeN — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:33:03 +0000

It’s a daunting task simply to pick up this book as it is over 1,000 pages in length. One suggestion; do not try to read the mass paperback version it is much too unwieldy. This book is an excellent read and Stephenson keeps everything moving right along. Cryptonimicon is actually four separate stories that slowly become interwoven to create one. The book blends historical fiction from WWII with present day computer technology in a very believable manner. None of the technology is over the top which is why I definitely preferred this Stephenson novel over his earlier work, Snow Crash.