The Wonder by Emma Donoghue (DNF)

I picked up The Wonder because I'd read Room and was seriously drawn in by it.  However, I'm finding I don't want to read The Wonder.  I really, really dislike Lib, the narrator, and can't face a whole book where I have to be in her condescending, judgemental head.  I sort of suspect she might get better as the book progresses, but I don't want to push through to find out.

Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop

Murder of Crows is a sequel to Written in Red, which I reviewed here.  I won't go into the plot, as it's a sequel and, if you want to read the first one, you might find some spoilers here.

I liked Murder of Crows even more than Written in Red, which I enjoyed.  I think, in large part, that was because the world building that I found a little painful in Written in Red was already done. We did get more here, but I felt like I already had my feet under me with Murder of Crows.

In both books, I found Anne Bishop's writing style just a little bit odd, which meant that I had to kind of get over the style at first before I was immersed in the book, but it didn't take too long.  The other minor-ish complaint that I have is with things being classified as "woman" things.  There is just so much of it.

However, I was fairly hooked on the story and enjoyed the read.  I think the Others are very interesting and I appreciate their take on the situation, even if I don't think I'd want to live in this world.  A little too much (one's life) depends on the actions other humans around there.

So, short story, I like this series and will be continuing.

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

I started Every Heart a Doorway in Kindle form, again, while on the Massachusetts trip.  When I got back, I was really wanted a real book, so I picked something else up.  Yesterday, though, when browsing my self for the next book to read, I realized I had Every Heart a Doorway in physical book form, too.  So, I decided to finish it up.  It's a very slim novel, so I finished it off yesterday evening.

Every Heart a Doorway is about a group home/boarding school for kids whose parents think they're having trouble recovering from having been kidnapped or run away.  The school, though, and the kids know differently.  Each of them has returned from a different magical world.  Some opened trunks to find staircases.  Others found tiny doors they opened and were sucked through.  It's different for each, as is the exact nature of the world they find themselves in.  All of these kids have found themselves back in this world.  In this school, it's all kids who want to go back to their magical worlds.  The first half or so of the book is following new comer Nancy as she finds her way at the school.  Then, there is a murder.  The second half of the book is about solving the mystery of who done it and, you know, avoiding being murdered, as well.

I have some mixed feelings about this book.  I liked the idea.  I didn't so much like the feel of the first part of the book.  I found it a little frustrating to get glimpses into the worlds without enough information to understand them.  I suppose that's what was supposed to be happening, as it was what Nancy was going through.  But, we also only get these tiny incomplete glimpses into the world she'd gone to and she would know that world very well.  I also didn't feel drawn to any of the described worlds, so I wasn't hooked in that way.

Once the first murder happened, I felt like things firmed up.  Now as we got glimpses into the world, they were anchored by the plot.  They came up as they applied to what was happening and I liked discovering the worlds much better that way.  I wish we'd gotten to that part sooner, but, on the flip side, we also heard about the dark worlds more, which gave it a horror feel.  I'm not always a big horror fan. 

I also felt like the worlds and characters weren't fully developed, which is why we only got those glimpses.  I felt a bit like that was why we only got the glimpses.  And one particular thing bothered me.  Jack says at one point that she'd once pulled out a man's lungs while he was still alive and trying to talk, but then later says that she never killed live people.  That was an indication of the sort of thing that I didn't so much like about this book.

I did find it kind of interesting, though.  I would like to see a book something like this that was a little more logic oriented, to use terminology from the book.  If it were longer so the main characters and their worlds were more fleshed out and with a feel that was less floating through barely ever getting an understanding of anything, I'd totally read that book.

Oh - I almost forgot to mention one of the things I did like a lot about this book.  I liked the range of gender identity/sexual preferences presented and the way that was handled.

So, in sum, it was okay. Things I liked, things I didn't.

Legend by Marie Lu

I started listening to Legend on my way home from my hospital support trip to Massachusetts.  I got most of the way through it between my two flights, but I didn't get around to finishing it until today.  Why?  Well, although I liked it, I wasn't just dying to finish it and I was dying to catch up on my podcasts.  I didn't do any podcasts on my trip, so I had a back log to deal with.  I finally got caught up today and, also today, got back to and finished Legend.  I had a fair amount of listening time today thanks to a run, housework and a good amount of time spent in the kitchen.  So, anyway, back to the story.

Legend is a dystopian set in future LA.  We follow Day and June.  Day is the republic's most wanted criminal.  June is its most promising young recruit/student (kind of the same in this world).  Their paths, of course, cross.  June's older brother and only living relative is killed ostensibly by Day.  June is given the task of tracking down her brother's killer.

So, there are some flaws in this book.  I wasn't really feeling it on the romance, at least as strong as it was by the end.  I did understand the beginnings of romance, but not the devotion indicated.  It's odd to me that Day has both incredible dexterity and a limp.  I might have missed something because I did drift off to sleep a couple of times for about ten minutes each time while listening on the plane (I was so very tired - I usually don't sleep on planes at all), but I wondered where Tess got her amazing medical skills.  I didn't always get the Republic's motivation for doing some of the things they did.  I felt that wasn't super well explained.

All that said, I liked it more than not.  I love kick-ass females and June definitely fit that role.  Day's devotion to his family and his "adoption" of Tess endeared me to him.  I am a fan of the dystopian and people rising up to take down the corrupt system.  The narration was clear and well paced.

This was a fun and enjoyable read (listen) and I'll be picking up the next in the series.

Travels with Casey by Benoit Denizet-Lewis (DNF)

Travels with Casey has been sitting on my to be read pile for months now, which is particularly embarrassing as it's a library book, as the vast majority of books I read are.  It just kept renewing and I just kept finding other books to pick up.  I got it originally because I like a good dog tail, but it just wasn't calling to me.  Last night I decided I'd better get to work on it and get it back to the library.  I didn't get far before sleep last night, but I have spent a good amount of time on it today in between going for a run, spending some quality time in the kitchen preparing food and a little general housework.  I made it about half way through.

Travels with Casey is a non-fiction account of his and his human's journey around the US in an RV.  The subtitle is "My Journey Through Our Dog-Crazy Country."  Benoit and Casey visit many dog owners and other folks and places who are dog related (the oldest dog park in Manhattan, PETA). 

Ultimately, this book just didn't click for me.  It wasn't bad per say, but I didn't get a strong feel for Casey and I felt like the narrative flow didn't so much flow as jump from thing to thing.  Out of nowhere, seemingly, we were getting tweets from a dog related twitter account.  There was an attempt at transitioning, but it, like many other times, felt a little forced to me.  It seemed to me that Benoit just tried to take on too much with this book:  his physical journey, his emotional journey, various sometimes very loosely related dog anecdotes.  It just ended up feeling kind of cluttered.

I wouldn't discourage you from reading Travels with Casey.  It is probably a good fit for some and I certainly didn't hate it, I just am not into enough to keep going when there are other books calling for my attention.

Armada by Ernest Cline

I loved Ready Player One, so I was keen to read Armada.  Unfortunately, I only thought it was okay. 

Armada is unrelated to Ready Player One.  Well, there are similarities:  gamers and 80's pop culture are prevalent in both.  However, in Armada, we start in the now whereas Ready Player One is in the future.  Zack, our main character, is 18 and a big gamer.  Other than that, he's not sure what he wants out of life.  One day, he sees a ship from his favorite game, Armada, in which he's ranked number 6 world-wide, in the sky in real life.  At first, he thinks maybe he's going crazy.  After all, he's found some evidence that his deceased father was kind of crazy.  Maybe it's genetic.  But, then, the next day, he's picked up by a friendly ship and taken off to battle for the future of the earth. 

I more or less liked Armada, but I found more faults with it.  Many of the possible plot holes are pointed out and addressed in the book, but the basic premise of a vast conspiracy in which we, earthlings, are united against a common enemy, have been for decades and are technologically much more advanced than we seem to be was an issue for me.  It's simply unbelievable.  I was more or less willing to set that aside for the story, but it niggled at me.

I also got very frustrated with Zack who has an anger issue and made some really stupid choices when he let his temper get away from him.  Of course, having faults makes characters more real, but it didn't endear me to Zack or the story.

I found my attention wandering more while reading Armada than while reading Ready Player One.  I'm not totally sure why that was except I think maybe there was more information dumping about things I didn't really care about.  Whatever it was, I often found myself reading something without being quite sure how we got there and having to go back and re-read the last page.  To have that happen as many times as it did with Armada is unusual for me. 

It seems likely, given the ending, that there will be a sequel.  I am willing to give that a shot.  I think that we've got the universe built now and can move on and I'm willing to gamble that I'll enjoy that.

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff (DNF)

I wanted to like Nevernight.  I'd heard lots of good things.  Assassin school.  Black shadow cat.  Some book tubers I follow were saying it was a new favorite book.  But, alas, it was not for me.  I get really bothered by overly lyrical styles of writing.  Give me straight forward prose any day.  Nevernight is very lyrical.  If that's your thing, along with being a fan of fantasy, this is probably the book for you.