Review: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Title: The Lightning Thief
Author: Rick Riordan
Information on series: First of five books in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series
Audience: Middle grade, though with plenty of appeal for readers of any age who love a good adventure story
Rating (scale of 1-5, with 5 being highest): 4
TL;DR: An action-packed quest story whose young hero was written off as a bad kid, but really he has supernatural abilities straight out of Greek myth.

Longer review:
On a recent road trip, we started and abandoned several audiobooks, nothing quite working for both of us. That is until we started The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (as read by Jesse Bernstein). In fact, we loved it so much that when we got home before finishing the last disc, we moved from the car straight to the couch. Neither of us had been terribly excited to listen to this book, I'd started and abandoned the print edition, he'd seen the underwhelming movie adaptation, but in the end it was a highlight of our very long drive. We were looking for a book that combined adventure and humor, and that is exactly what we got.

The Percy Jackson series is based on the idea that the Greek gods of ancient myth are not only reality, they are active forces in the modern world, who still have the bad habit of having half-god children with mortal men and women. Percy Jackson (spoilers) discovers that he is the son of an unknown god, which gives him unusual powers and mark him out as a target for evil forces. That some of his special abilities (a natural aptitude for ancient Greek, hyperaccelerated reflexes) manifest as learning disorders (dyslexia, ADHD) that mark him out as a "bad kid" in the mundane world is an inspiring touch. While your average reader isn't likely to be a demigod, the message that sometimes our strengths lie in what makes us different, even if that means we can never be normal.

While I know this book, series, and author has a very large fan base, I never would've considered suggesting this series to adults before checking out the audiobook myself. That's the magic of a skilled audiobook narrator, they can take a good book and turn it into something even better.

Read alikes:
Rick Riordan: The obvious read alike, he expands on Percy Jackson's world in the Heroes of Olympus series, explores Egyptian mythology, and his newest series, Magnus Chase, which takes on norse mythology.

Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins: Before she wrote The Hunger Games, Collins wrote a series about a young boy's adventures in a secret kingdom under the streets of New York City (warning: there are rats, cockroaches, and other creepy crawlies).

Hounded by Kevin Hearne: Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles are NOT for children or young readers. This is a decidely adult urban fantasy series set in an Arizona overrun by the gods of Celtic mythology.

~Sarah, Carnegie-Stout Public Library

Review: The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

Title: The Rook

Author: Daniel O’Malley

Information on series: First in a series (book two will be released January 2016)

Audience: Adult

Rating (scale of 1-10): 8

TL;DR: Endlessly entertaining and engrossing, The Rook has a great set-up that the rest of the book almost entirely lives up to.

Longer review:  She gains consciousness in a park, shivering in the rain, bloodied and bruised, surrounded by a ring of lifeless bodies, and with no knowledge of who she is.  In her pocket is a letter with only a large number one written on the outside.  “Dear you,” the letter says, “the body you are wearing used to be mine, … and along with this body you have inherited certain problems and responsibilities.”  

She, it turns out, is Myfanwy Thomas, a member of the Checquy, the secret organization that keeps Britain safe from the supernatural, the paranormal and the just plain weird.  In her position as a Rook, a high-ranking member of the Checquy leadership, Myfanwy discovered a traitor in the ranks but was unable to expose them before being attacked and having her memory obliterated.  Thankfully she’s the sort of person to think ahead, hence the letter in her pocket - and that’s not the only one.  Further letters direct the new Myfanwy to a safehouse and provide information about the Checquy and her own past. If she wants to survive the traitor's next attempt on her life, Myfanwy will have to go into work as if nothing happened, and find a way to expose them.

But when you work for the Checquy, even a normal day means fighting all sorts of weirdness: like a cult that unleashes a man-eating fungus, or a hatching dragon egg.  Few of the crises she faces, however, are more terrifying than her co-workers. There's the vampire, the guy who can excrete nerve gas, the one being that inhabits four separate human bodies, and even Myfanwy herself, who finds that in times of great stress she can disrupt the bodily functions of other people - make them go blind, or stop moving, or even stop their hearts beating.

Normally, amnesia as a plot device leaves me cold, but the letters that Myfanwy reads from her past self provide a great way for the author to outline the Checquy’s history, and provide details about how his world works.  Myfanwy goes into each new situation with just as much ignorance as the reader does, so even though the world of The Rook feels complex and deep, you get to experience it for the first time right along with the main character.

The tone of the novel is rather light and fun; if this were a Bond movie, it would be from the Roger Moore years and have lots of bad puns and innuendo.  The dialog is snappy, sometimes a little too unrealistically crisp, and Myfanwy is thrown from crisis to crisis fast enough that she doesn’t do much in the way of seriously connecting with other characters.  Hopefully the second book will see Myfanwy build some relationships and experience some development to go along with battling whatever new supernatural horror may threaten the British Isles.

Read Alikes:

Going Postal by Terry Pratchett:  Con-man Moist von Lipwig is saved from deserved execution for his crimes and is subjected to a punishment that amounts to a fate worse than death - he’s put in charge of the decrepit post office system.  This is the first of Pratchett’s Discworld novels featuring Moist who, like Myfanwy, is thrust into an inscrutable government institution and just has to learn as he goes along.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde: Thursday Next is an officer in the government department of Literary Detection, where she chases forgers and plagiarists.  But one conniving baddie is bent on messing around with classic novel Jane Eyre, by kidnapping characters out of the original manuscript.  To preserve England’s literary heritage, Thursday must jump into the pages of classic literature where, it turns out, she finds a shadowy agency which polices books from the inside.

Reviewed by Seth, Ames Public Library

Review: The Thorn of Dentonhill

Title: The Thorn of Dentonhill

Author: Marshall Ryan Maresca

Information on series: So far no series, but a 2^nd book set in the same world is due out soon.

Audience: Teen/Adult

Rating: 3

TL;DR: In the city of Maradaine, vigilante Veranix Calbert takes on the drug dealer who destroyed his family.

Longer review:

Veranix Calbert seems to be an ordinary student of magic at the University of Maradaine. Few people know of his tragic history. His father was killed by drug-lord Willem Fenmere, who then forcibly addicted Veranix’s mother to effitte, which destroyed her mind. Veranix will do almost anything to bring down Fenmere’s empire before it destroys more lives.

Fortunately, his early (and convenient) training as an archer and acrobat in the circus comes in handy. His magical abilities help him jump to the tops of buildings in a single bound.

Things get more interesting when Veranix accidentally steals a magical rope and cloak, rather than an effitte shipment. He discovers that wearing the cloak allows him to do much more magic than he normally can, and the rope can be directed magically by his thoughts.

Unfortunately for Veranix, the powerful Blue Hand Circle of mages were the intended recipients of the rope and cloak. Now, they’re out to find the mysterious “Thorn” in Fenmere’s side, too.

While the premise of this book is novel, the execution had problems. The dialogue seemed either clunky or cheesy most of the time, and it kept me from enjoying the flow of the story. The names of the characters felt overly contrived. I also had problems overlooking the Veranix’s clichéd background. All I kept thinking was that it was a weird mash-up of Batman and Robin’s backstories.

The one bright spot in this novel, and the reason that I *might* read another book of Mr. Maresca’s was his portrayal of the Rose Street Princes, one of the street gangs mentioned in the book. I enjoyed the character of Colin, one of the street captains of the Princes, who is also Veranix’s cousin. Colin provided a glimmer of hope that Maresca can create a real character, and not just a caricature.

Author’s Website: http://mrmaresca.com/wp

Read or view alikes:

Any of the “Batman” graphic novels, although especially the ones in which Bruce Wayne remembers his parents.

The TV series “Arrow”, or Netflix series “Daredevil,” for their vigilante themes.

The Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne for its pacing and adventure.

Reviewed by: Teresa Dahlgren, Waterloo Public Library

Review: Catteni Series by Anne McCaffrey

Title: Catteni Series (or Freedom Series)

Freedom’s Landing

Freedom’s Choice

Freedom’s Challenge

Freedom’s Ransom

Author:  Anne McCaffrey

Information on Series: Four books, I’m reviewing them as a whole. 

Audience: Adult with YA appeal

Rating: (scale 1-5 with 5 being the highest): 4

TL;DR:  Fast-paced series about a strong female protagonist abducted by aliens, dropped on a planet with other captives, and their fight to survive.  Uncomplicated world building, surprisingly upbeat and at times romantic.  A good introduction to the writings of Anne McCaffrey with nary a dragon in sight.  

Longer Review: Kristin Bjornsen was kidnapped by the alien Catteni and forced into slavery on the planet Barevi.  Kris did not meekly accept her fate, she stole her master’s flitter and escaped into the forest.  After months of living, and surviving on her own, she sees what looks like another Catteni hunting party in flitters flying towards her location. When she looks closer, she realizes on of the flitters is being pursued by the others.  Kris saves the Catteni in the pursued flitter, knocks him unconscious, and then tries to return him to the main city on Barevi. They are both captured by the Catteni, put to sleep by some drug, loaded into spaceships and then dropped, along with hundreds of others, on yet another planet.  This, my friends, is when the story really begins. 

Initially the other dropped people (some human, some not) want to kill the Catteni, Zanial. Kris and a handful of other drops see the wisdom of keeping a Catteni alive for the time being.  Zanial can provide insight as to what their purpose is on this new planet.  Plus, Kris feels somewhat responsible for his situation even though his race is completely responsible for her situation. Kris is a good person despite what has happened to her. The Catteni deposit slaves on a planet and if they survive then the planet is safe to inhabit and colonize.  If they don’t survive, the Catteni move on and drop slaves on another planet.  The Catteni civilization operates as a caste system, and Zanial is of the highest caste.  A Catteni has never been dropped before, let alone one of his ranking.  Zanial, being pragmatic, says “I dropped, I stay”.  He accepts his fate and helps the rest of the drops survive. 

The new planet they land on isn’t quite as uninhabited as the Catteni think.  Yet another alien race, one nobody has heard of, uses the planet as a giant farm. There are cow-like creatures, terrifying native birds, and something that sucks all the garbage into the ground at night keeping the planet clean.  The garbage cleaner doesn't exactly differentiate between "garbage" and anything else on the ground.  When Kris and the others were first dropped, many were sucked into the ground by the garbage cleaner before they woke up from their drugged state.  The first three books chronicle the survival and colonization of this new planet, dubbed Botany, and Zanial’s desire to spark a rebellion amongst his own people against the alien race that controls the Catteni.  Yes, the Catteni are acting under orders from a superior race, the Eosi, and Zanial isn’t too happy about being under their thumb. The problem is, Zanial is stuck on Botany with no way to communicate with his fellow Catteni dissenters.  Or is he?

This was my first foray into the writing of Anne McCaffrey.  The Catteni series provides some interesting world building without being totally overwhelming.  There is a huge cast of characters and with each book that cast just gets bigger and bigger.  I found that if I just focused on Kris, Zainal, and a few other main characters, I didn’t get too lost or bogged down by who was who.  The books were written in the late to mid-1990s (with the exception of book 4) so I enjoyed the pop culture references.  These books are tame enough for the YA crowd, but they may or may not get some of these references.  

The fourth book, Freedom’s Ransom, was written about 4 years after the third. It provided a nice wrap up to the story while still leaving some questions open to the imagination.  There wasn’t much action and a whole lot of talking.  The story could have easily ended after book 3, but there wasn’t any harm in finishing off the series.  If you are curious about how Earth survived the Catteni invasion, then book 4 is a must read. 

The Catteni series is about life on other planets and the will to survive. The drops are of different races, but they quickly learn that by working together they will have a better chance of survival. Zanial, as the lone Catteni, manages to make the best of his terrible situation.  Imagine being the only member of the race that forced everyone else on Botany into slavery.  By accepting his fate, and following another leader instead of lording over the others, he is accepted as one of the group.  I love that Kris is a strong, capable, well respected female character. She stands on her own two feet and her strengths are applauded and recognized by her fellow drops.  

I read all four books in about a week making them feel like one long novel which is why I chose to review them as a whole.  After Freedom's Landing, each subsequent book contains a preface that summarizes the events from previous books. That would come in handy if you read the series over a long period of time and can't quite remember what happened in a previous book.  

Read Alikes:

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

While on a mission to the planet Gethen, earthling Genly Ai is sent by leaders of the nation of Orgoreyn to a concentration camp from which exiled prime minister of the nation of Karhide tries to rescue him.   

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

An expert at simulated war games, Andrew "Ender" Wiggins believes that he is engaged in one more computer war game when, in truth, he is commanding the last Earth fleet against an alien race seeking Earth's complete destruction. 

The Quantum Rose by Catherine Asaro

Kamoj Argali is the young ruler of an impoverished province on a backward planet. To keep her people from starving, she has agreed to marry Jax Ironbridge, the boorish and brutal ruler of a prosperous province. But before Argali and Ironbridge are wed, a mysterious stranger from a distant planet sweeps in and forces Kamoj into marriage, throwing her world into utter chaos.

Amy Muchmore, Carnegie-Stout Public Library