Shatterglass

Hey guys. Remember when I told you I had favorite authors and that I was going to play favorites? Well this is one of them. Tamora Pierce is without a doubt one of the most amazing people in the world. Her books are the bane of my existance. No lie. [well, maybe a little lie, but she is the best!] I started reading her books in the sixth grade, because a friend of mine, [thank you to the forces-that-be] forced me to read the Alanna series. As Otulissa would say, "oh my glaux." [You have to be a GoGH nerd to get that] It was the BEST thing since SLICED BREAD! No lie. [And this time, I mean no lie.]

So anyway, onto the book. Shatterglass is the final installment of 'The Circle Opens Quartet' and blows my mind each and every time I read it, [about maybe eight or nine times to date] For those of you who don't know, the Circle opens follows each of the four amazing people, Briar Moss, Trisana Chandler, Sandrilene fa Toren, and Daja Kisubo [I spelled Sandry's first name and Daja's last name wrong the first time, I had to wiki. You'd think I'd know this by now.] as they get students and further study their magic and the magic of others. READ THE FIRST QUARTET and THEN this quartet, otherwise you won't get it, and you will leave confused and unfullfilled. Trust me I know. I actually had Street Magic way before I know who Tamora Pierce was, and the genius I was dealing with, and I read it and I was so confused. [See how big my library was, even as a child?] I only realized I had already read the book several years later, when I decided to give it a chance.

ANYWAY, [I am so off track here, ;D] This is about Tris as she explores Tharios, an extremely well developed city where a conclave of mages come together, and Tris tags along with her teacher Niklaren Goldeye [another wiki for me] as he attends. She takes an interest in the famed glassmakers there, and meets Kethlun Warder.

Tammy once again stunns with her well developed city, populace, and still manages to tie in important parallels to today. [I don't always see them because I read for pleasure, and delve no deeper,] She mentions the city's intolerance for uncleanliness, has several very good witicisims, that apply to everyday life, and even though the novel touches some serious topics, she still manages to make me laugh now and again. I'm sure there is a word for the way the Prathmuni, [amazon this time] the 'untouchables and unseeables' are treated, and it's not good.

So I just googled it, [search engines are my friend] and apparantly it draws parallels to slavery in India. [Don't look at me for not catching that, I'm shallow, remember]

In conclusion, this is an excellently awesomely perfect book. One of my favorites. GO BUY IT NAO! Oh, and just some incentive, [don't worry, this doesn't contain spoilers. Just excellence]

The next lightening bolt hit Tris squarely.

She held up her arms; she laughed as the

bolt clung to her without vanishing, a

white hot ladder to the clouds. The braids

she had taken down exploded from their

ties, the hair in them twining around the

lightning that secured her to the sky.

[It's in the very front page of the book, the little peek they give you at the begining of the book of the middle of it]

Cheers!

Temple of the Dragonslayer

So this is a book I first got during my 'medieval-fantasy-adventure-omg-new-books' craze. [Actually, I think that's still ongoing] I read it an awful long time ago, so I don't remember much of it, except for one or two things that happen later in this series. The series itself is okay, I didn't buy past the first book of the spinoff. [It's Wizards of the Coast, what do you expect?] Anywhoo, about the book. The writing style is good, it's very descriptive, reminds me a bit of a roleplay, only better written with a better plotline.

The book starts off with Nearra, the main character, waking up in the middle of the road with no memory. Within the first ten pages, she gets chased by a trio of goblins, meets a dragon that wants to eat her, and gets rescued by a wizard. So maybe you think, 'hey, this is gonna be a typical damsel in distress book, I don't want to read this.' Well you'd be wrong. [Mostly.]

Although Nearra manages to attract quite a following of loyal friends, she is far from helpless. One of my favorite parts in the book is when she realized that although she believes and trusts every one of her friends, they all regard her as someone who needs to be protected, and she slightly resents that. She also has a little secret of her own, and she's not the only one. Almost all of her friends have their own problems, and some have alterior[sp?] motives.

[Oh, did I forget to mention that the whole basis of this is for Nearra to find some way to get her memories back? Yes? Well it is.]

It's also quite sweet in it's own little weird way. I will eventually read the second, but I've decided to write a wizards-of-the-coast fanfiction, [this book got me in the mood,] not about this, but because of a funny little list I came across, and I'm determined to break every rule :] Just the fact that it's Wizards-of-the-Coast breaks rule forty-five. It really is quite entertaining.

Velocity

So there I was. Walking down the asile.

His yellow aura and mysterious way of speaking drew me in at first. It was right then, that I knew I had to take him home.

After getting inside, I couldn't keep my hands away, every minute it was something new something exciting. 

I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time--

This was a stinking good book.

Velocity is delivered by Dean Koontz at such speed it will send you reeling and leave you satisfied. 

Funnily enough, the main character in this book is also named Billy-- Billy Wiles. He's a bartender in a local bar that has no official name. He finds a note under his windshield after a shift, leaving him with an atrociously difficult decision: disregard this note and do nothing, and an innocent woman will be killed. Involve the police, and a different innocent woman will be killed. 

What would you do?

The main plot is only revealed after the third page or so, where the book seemed to lose its luster, but Koontz sprinkled the next couple of pages with (incredibly giggly) humor, enough to send me coasting into the adventure that is Velocity. 

I'm in the process of cleaning my house right now, and when I was reading this, I had to tell myself, "Five more minutes, five more minutes....Then I'll clean."

No. There was not a  "five more minutes" thing. I couldn't put it down. 

Koontz's enters you into an entirely believable world of suspense and tension. His descriptions do not leave you lost; they allow you to use your imagination while still telling you exactly going on. The world he leads you though is believable and the dialogue is strong and gripping. 

The only vice is that some parts are revealed a bit too early for my taste, killing some of the suspense aspect that I love. However, when the pieces float to the surface, they float easily and fit in wonderfully with the story he has spun. 

The ending is sad and leaves you wanting more. Not too much more- Koontz doesn't leave too many loose ends, however, there are some that I'd like to see tied up. 

Now that I think about it, an epilogue would've been nice. But thanks anyway, D. K., it's a good read.

-Amilie ;]

Ocean City M.D.

Tom Croft starts Billy Lee off fishing.

Tom Croft is the author of Ocean City M.D. and Billy Lee is the main character, a guy in his 40's that writes for the local junk newspaper.

Croft has a very distinctive writing style, and right away I knew reading his book would be an.... experience.

He starts the book with Billy Lee fishing.

As the title says, it takes place in Ocean City, Maryland. Croft also happens to be from Maryland, where I was born and used to live, so this book was more personal than the average novel to me. 

Okay, readers, before you start jumping on me, I will say it flat out: I am trying very hard to keep this review more about the book, but I do have to mention Croft's writing style. As one who pays some attention to spelling and punctuation, I could not help but notice the frequent misspellings, odd punctuation, and the occasional malapropism that he used. I have to wonder whether his editor shot herself in the midst of trying to proofread the book! It wouldn't surprise me!

He also did not use italics in speech, but instead felt the need to CAPITALIZE AND/OR UNDERLINE EVERYTHING THAT ANYONE PUT EMPHASIS ON! It's obvious he didn't know how to bold words, otherwise I'm sure there would've been a great deal of that too. 

(Maybe Croft strangled the editor when she told him he couldn't bold every other word...?)

He also often felt the need to elongate and misspell (this time purposely) word too, to, I presume, show a speech style, but it often left me thinking how immature he seems writing in this style.

Readers, what does it make you think when you read someone going, "Heeyyyyyyyyy" and "Nooooooooooooooooooooooo" and "Mowa Wawer"? Please comment and tell me.

The characters are interesting, do not get me wrong. They are very real in the sense that they don't always seem to know what they are doing, but are often very boring or incredibly rash. Now, if someone reads this and tells me, "Oh, they're just realistic characters," I'd like you to know if that's what you consider realistic, I consider them the type of people who should be tested for bipolar disorder.

Billy Lee starts off the book having not spoken to his ex-wife in ten years, but before the 70th page, she's called him up, they've talked about their feelings, had dinner, spent the night together, and are even making plans for the future. 

Well, frankly, this just all seems like one huge coincidence.

Croft also takes huge deviations from the main story line, jerking you back and forth between problems in Billy Lee's life.

The synopsis on the back of the book tells you practically everything you need to know, and I often found myself flipping back to it to make sure I was reading the book I thought I was reading; Croft has so many things going on in this guy's life at once.

It takes 204 pages (out of 260, mind you) to find out what the crap is going on (if you don't read the synopsis), and when Billy Lee says, "You mean I'm finally going to find out what the [expletive]'s going on?" I jumped off the sofa and said, "Finally!"

Even after the plot has totally unfolded, Croft feels the need to go on. And on. And on. 

If I hadn't already wasted about 2 1/2 hours reading, I would've put the book down and left the last three chapters to my imagination, but I decided I was going to see this thing through.

It has a happily sad ending, incredibly predictable though. Croft jerks the reader's leash around though those last 3 chapters quite a bit before he finally types 'The End'.

Maybe I haven't given the book the justice it deserves.

It's descriptive-- sometimes too much.

The characters are nice-- when they aren't acting erratically.

You're able to tell what's going on all of the time, but the important question is, will you really care?

-Amilie ;]

Tunnels

Originally titled The Highfield Mole and released in 2oo5, this book by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams is surprisingly good. The book first entranced me by it's shiny cover, [okay, I'm shallow, so sue me] and then I read the plot. While it didn't make me want to squeal and jump up and down clutching my prize [it's happened before!] it vaguely stirred my interest. So I got it, came home, and settled down to read it. It wasn't a 'omg-i-can't-put-it-down' novel, which in retrospect isn't a bad thing, but it just didn't grab my attention. Add to the fact that it's creepy factor is way high, and my creepy tolerance is way low, especially at night, this book took me a week to finish. Surprisingly. [for those of you who don't know me via RL somehow, I generally take maaaybe three days at most to finish a book.]

Besides that, it's divided into three parts. It took a while for the action to start happening, but it's very discriptive. You can almost see everything that's going on, especially in the tunnels. It's a bit of a mystery right from the start, and the society they've created is amazing, if a bit, like said before, creepy. When bad things happened in the book, it kind of felt personal, which is a plus, [although it may not seem like it!] One problem I had was that everything kept getting worse for Will [the main character] and it hardly ever got better. We the readers do need reprives and laughs now and then. Anyway, the ending was a bit cheesy, but I liked it. The Epilogue wasn't incentive to go out and buy the next one, but I will anyway because I want to know what happens next.

I'm a sucker for sequals.

The Witness for the Prosecution

Heyy all, Elena here. So I finished Agatha Christie's The Witness for the Prosecution all by myself. ;] It was good, but in my opinion not as good as And Then There Were None but still amazing. The style and plot reminded me a bit of Erle Stanley Gardener. Definitley read this book if you are an Aggie fan, or if you like mysteries/courtroom dramas. It's really interesting to see how the human mind works. Not really much else to say about it. I'm not really good with the whole review thing, but it's something I read and recommend, even though I wouldn't put it on my favorite stories list.

IN OTHER NEWS: I am building a library in my spare bedroom. It's fun! :] Right now I have about two almost floor to ceiling bookshelves filled, and there are boxes with books still waiting to be unpacked. I set up a little reading area, shoved the [really really really really really old] computer to the side, and there wasn't much I could do with the fooseball table. I feel proud of it, so yes, I am bragging a little bit ;] I finished up another book in there, [comming soon] and my cat stole my seat when I got up.

okay, I'm done now. Ta Ta!

Hello Blog Readers

Hi Everyone, my name is Amilie, and I'm the other half of Caffeine for the Mind. 

The idea for this blog was born after reading a review of a book that we thought was just outright unfair towards the book and its author. As my fellow conspirator mentioned, we began talking about how the quality of literature written  for "teens" has gone downhill and then created this blog. We thought it might be nice to review some books and see if there are any other people out there that think in sort of the same way we do. 

I read pretty much everything, from Michael Crichton and Stephen King to Margaret Weiss and Douglas Adams novels. Unlike Elena, who mostly buys her books, I am a library junkie, content to read and return. 

Nowadays, I think that teen's reading and comprehension skills are incredibly underestimated, and books labeled as "teen reading" are often literarily bland and generic.  I'm not going to say I have a favorite author, because I don't. I think that some authors are outstanding in their genre, but overall, I cannot name a favorite author.

As aforementioned, the main theme of this blog is book review and discussion, so whenever I finish a book (whether it's one of Bill Waterson's Calvin and Hobbes books or Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time ) I will review it here for you. Feel totally free to comment the reviews, recommend books, or just say hi. I do love it when people say hello. And do be prepared for a bit of real life throughout this blog. We're humans over here too.

So that's that; your Caffeine for the Mind crew!

-Amilie ;]

Hello Blogging Community

Heey all, my name is Elena. My friend Amilie [the more mature one] and I made this blog after talking over how many great books there are out there, and how many of them aren't on the right shelves. I am a big fan of Mystery, Fantasy and Science Fiction. And all I find on those shelves of the local Books-A-Mil is the Clique novels and other annoying stereotypical highschool crap. I end up going to the adults and to the childrens shelves. Many of the books on the teen shelf lack solid, believable, rolemodel sheroes.

Anyway to get to the point, whenever I finish a book, no matter what the book, I will review it here for you. My friend Amilie will do the same with the books she reads. We welcome anyone to contribute their opinions on the books, suggest good books for us to feature, ask questions, or just say hi. We love that. :]

I do play favorites. I have a bunch of authors whom I love and read over and over and over. I also am biased against certain genres, so if I review a book negatively, it's because I'm usually predisposed. ;D Yes, I am a bit sexist when it comes to books, I mostly read female main characters, and things written by females. That doesn't mean I don't like books about male heroes or with male authors, but I tend to gravitate more towards sheroes books.

Occasionally, we will throw a bit of real life into the mix.
I'll leave Amilie to introduce herself later. <3