The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Summery: "In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on

live TV.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love."

Review: The Hunger Games is about a corrupt government punishing its citizens by sentencing their children to fight to death in an brutal, televised, staged environment. It's part "Survivor", part "Battle Royale", part "Lord of the Flies". By design the book is uncomfortable. There's no denying that everyday life for these people is terrible; the "Games" are just the horrific icing on the oppressive cake that is life under the control of the Capitol. Just reading it made me want to escape. It's stifling. In creating this environment Collins made the reader really feel what Katniss was going through. This is the book's greatest accomplishment.

The book is told in the first person and ordinarily this is my favorite type of narrative, but in this case I thought it limited the action in the story. Having only the ability to see Katniss's perspective left little to no pay off for the long tense scenes. I would have really enjoyed some actual combat.

There's a lot of praise for this book, and it certainly is a book that keeps you turning the page, is it worth all the hype? I suppose as much as any book. I liked it, I didn't LOVE it, but I'm pretty particular. I can say that it's better than most books I have read lately and the best book the "Supernatural Book Club" has read so far. Perhaps it was the subject matter that prevented me from loving it. I distrust the government and it stands to reason that I don't like any book that features citizens being oppressed by an all powerful governing body. That's probably it. Everyone else in the book club loved The Hunger Games.

Spoilers ahead:

Other than the subject matter in general, there were a couple other issues that prevented me from loving this book. First was the protagonist and narrator of the story, Katniss Everdeen. Katniss is difficult to like; she's hardened, stubborn, automatically distrustful and self involved. I understand that she's self involved because she HAS to be; she's had the task of caring completely for her mother and sister since she was was eleven years old. She's so self sufficient that it's easy to forget she's a sixteen year old girl.

Then there's the love story, which becomes as frustrating for the reader as it does for the characters. Katniss struggles to understand her feelings for Peeta, a boy who clearly is in love with her (and is so absolutely sure about his feelings), and her indecision is absolutely grating. Does she love him? Is she simply playing along to stay alive? The whole thing got really old fast. On the plus side, the love story did make me like Peeta more for being so faithful and loyal to Katniss, willing to do anything to protect her.

Bottom line: I give The Hunger Games a solid B. An easy read and an intriguing story; a great start to a series. The protagonist is a little tough to relate to, but I can see that changing as the series goes on. Collins' ability to make you feel what the characters are feeling partially makes up for the flaws in her main character.

Angel Time by Anne Rice

Summary: Anne Rice returns to the mesmerizing storytelling that has captivated readers for more than three decades in a tale of unceasing suspense set in time past—a metaphysical thriller about angels and assassins.

The novel opens in the present. At its center: Toby O’Dare—a contract killer of underground fame on assignment to kill once again. A soulless soul, a dead man walking, he lives under a series of aliases—just now: Lucky the Fox—and takes his orders from “The Right Man.” Into O’Dare’s nightmarish world of lone and lethal missions comes a mysterious stranger, a seraph, who offers him a chance to save rather than destroy lives. O’Dare, who long ago dreamt of being a priest but instead came to embody danger and violence, seizes his chance. Now he is carried back through the ages to thirteenth-century England, to dark realms where accusations of ritual murder have been made against Jews, where children suddenly die or disappear . . . In this primitive setting, O’Dare begins his perilous quest for salvation, a journey of danger and flight, loyalty and betrayal, selflessness and love. --


This is the first Anne Rice book the book club has read and the first I myself have read, so I can't say how well it compares to her older books. I have heard the older books are WAY different due to Rice's recent conversion back to Christianity. Before I read "Angel Time" I had heard it was "preachy", and yeah, it is, but that's not really the issue.

Overall the book was sort of flat. I can tell that Rice is capable of telling a good story, I just don't think this is it. The story is about redemption of a professional assassin, an angel tells Toby that God needs him and his skill set specifically to help some people in thirteenth century England. I could accept that, though sadly there wasn't enough of a threat to require the "specific skills" of an assassin, or Toby personally. It's possible that the explanation is yet to come, as this book is the first in the "Song of the Seraphim" series, but the story wasn't engaging enough to make me care to read on and find out.

Spoilers ahead:
After traveling back in time Toby meets and instantly feels for the people he's helping, he would die for them, he loves them like family. I understand that we can't understand God's love and all that, but it just seemed rushed and I couldn't feel the sympathy that he did. The story was long and sort of unnecessarily complicated.
In the end Toby helps the family in an elaborate lie to deceive the Catholic church. This was really strange to me. This guy is brought to help the Jewish people and in turn receive his own redemption, but he must do this through lies and deceit? Not sure what to think about that. God and an angel help this guy lie to protect the Jewish people of England?

Bottom Line: It's clear that Rice is an excellent writer, her book was full of exquisite detail, I just really thought the story could have been stronger, and well, better.

Horror and Urban Fantasy reading Challenge 2011

I'm finding all sorts of fun stuff to do! I saw this challenge and knew it was something I wanted to do. Click on the banner on the right side of this blog to join! Then all you have to do is read 24 horror or urban fantasy books before the end of December! (Since I didn't know, here is the definition of "urban fantasy": Urban fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy defined by place; the fantastic narrative has an urban setting. Many urban fantasies are set in contemporary times and contain supernatural elements. However, the stories can take place in historical, modern, or futuristic periods. The prerequisite is that they must be primarily set in a city.) Most of the books we read here are probably considered urban fantasy.

W.W.W Wednesday

Recently I started reading the blog "Should Be Reading" and in a recent post found these fun questions, that as an avid reader, I couldn't resist!

"To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

My answers:

-I'm currently reading 3 books (I have a short attention span, I have to change it up):

The first is The Vampire Diaries: The Return, Shadows Souls by L.J Smith. After reading the previous installment, I have to say that this one IS an improvement. It is also really long and I wish the author would just get to the point already!

The second is Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard. Shockingly enough, I don't just read supernatural books! This one won't have a review on this site, and I've not read enough of it to say whether or not it's good. Perhaps on the personal blog I'll review it...

The third is I am Number Four by Pitticus Lore. I know, I know everyone is ripping this book and movie apart, partially I think because James Frey is such a self-righteous jerk. BUT so far the book, while simple and definitely an YA novel, is engaging and entertaining. I like it.

-I just finished Angel Time by Anne Rice and Supernatural: Heart of the Dragon by Keith DeCandido. Both with be reviewed on this site shortly.

-What will I read next? There are SO many options! The next book I read will be the book the book club decides on, as perhaps the next Preacher comic that's been sitting on my bedside table for months...

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own WWW Wednesday post, or share your answers in the comment section here. Thanks!

The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Nightfall

I have no excuse. After these reviews I thought I was done with these books. I think it was watching the television show that made me venture back into the preposterous town of Fell's Church.
Elena is back. She's no longer dead, she's no longer a vampire, but she's not quite a human either. What is she? Adult-baby-mythical-fairy would be an accurate description, with magical powers. She's unable to speak and only recognizes people by kissing them, Stefan, Bonnie, Meredith, Caroline, Matt, they all get some kissin' from Elena (prairie dogs do this, according to the author, yeah prairie dogs are always making out with each other, the sluts). She also floats in the air, at one point Stefan tethers her floating body to the back of his car as he drives through the forest. She then wakes up one day all better and able to speak, but of course she gets to keep the magic powers.
Smith also found it necessary to retell us repeatedly that Elena is beautiful with "golden hair and eyes as blue as "lapis lazuli". Mentioning once that she is an attractive blonde with blue eyes would have sufficed. She also tells us repeatedly how angelic and kind and wonderful Elena is, and how EVERYONE loves her. Guess what? We read the first four books, Elena's a self obsessed spoiled brat. We didn't forget. Oh, but now her blood makes her irresistible to all vampires (fans of Charlaine Harris find this sounds rather familiar). Yeah, we needed another reason all men love her, vampire or otherwise.
And on to Stefan and Damon. Stefan isn't really around much and when he is he's simply calling Elena his "lovely love" over and over and flying around in the trees with her (since when can he fly? Oh, that's right since L.J Smith saw "Twilight"). Yes he's more bland and boring then before, but it's not that noticeable. Now Damon however is another story. Remember how I said he turned into a suddenly helpful robot in the last book? That was better then whatever the hell he was here. All snarky comments and sense of humor gone.

Spoilers ahead:

To keep this review from getting way too long I'll just list of some of the more bizarre occurrences:

-Attacks by ambulatory trees, with poisonous sap, and some with exposed male genitalia.
-Elena sprouting different sets of wing or different occasions ("redemption" wings, "purity" wings, etc.)
-A set of Japanese incestuous twins. About as believable as a poorly written cartoon a 12 year old wrote.
-Teen girls, while possessed, strip off all their clothes and throw themselves at ANY male they see, even their fathers and brothers. One 15 year old girl superglues a homemade stripper outfit onto herself.
-Also while possessed (by a Japanese fox demon, I might add), Damon tries to get Matt and Elena to make a sex tape.
-Caroline becomes pregnant and accused Matt of raping her (it's not even his kid).


I can say that if the goal was to read nonsense just to see how bad it'll get, then this book was worth the drive to the library. I'm glad I didn't pay money for it, which was twice as long as the other four at around 600 pages.

As terrible as the first four books were, they were never boring, and weren't completely nonsensical (stupid, maybe). Towards the end, the book made so little sense that I was rereading parts to make sure I wasn't losing my mind. Nope, I've still got mine, can't say the same for L.J. Smith.

Bottom line: Read my previous reviews of the first four books, then think to yourself "do i like nonsense that's so ridiculous it literally sucks the intelligence right out of your brain? If the answer is "yes", this is the book for you.

And keep an eye out for my review of TVD The Return: Shadow Souls and we'll see just how far Smith will go in her obvious decent into madness.

*On a side note, doesn't the chick on the cover look like "Quinn" from "Glee"?

The Mothman Prophecies by John A. Keel

Summary from the back of the book:
"West Virginia, 1966. For thirteen months the town of Point Pleasant is gripped by a real-life nightmare that culminates in a tragedy that makes headlines around the world. Strange occurrences and sightings, including a bizarre winged apparition that becomes known as the Mothman, trouble this ordinary American community. Mysterious lights are seen moving across the sky. Domestic animals are found slaughtered and mutilated. And journalist John Keel, arriving to investigate the freakish events, soon finds himself an integral part of an eerie and unfathomable mystery..."

"The Mothman Prophecies" is journalist and author John Keel's accounts of unidentified flying objects, "men in black", "ultraterrestrials", and a red eyed, gray winged creature called the "Mothman". Most in our book club chose not to read the book either out of lack of interest in a non-fiction book on the paranormal or the fear that the book would scare them, of the people who did read it, the general idea was that while it was difficult to believe, it was an interesting study, and interesting theories. It definitely gave us all something to think about. Below is my personal review:

As a life long fan of science fiction and fantasy, reading real people's accounts of strange beings and flying objects was fascinating. Keel does a great job of remaining objective and not inserting his opinion or interpretation into the accounts, he tells them as he heard them, as fact. Whether or not you as the reader believe everything in the book as fact is another story. Either way though, for anyone who likes this kind of stuff I'd highly recommend this book. Without it we wouldn't have "The X Files" or the "Men in Black" movies (a term Keel himself coined) or many other scifi books and movies. It's the foundation of many popular culture "norms" about UFOs and extraterrestrials. While at times the book can feel a bit disjointed and the names of the different "contactees" are difficult to keep straight, Keel really tells a compelling story and makes the reader want to know more. Plus, many of the accounts are so outlandish and absurd sounding that you can't stop reading. From stories of a red eyed, winged creature that may or may not eat dead dogs, to the "cosmic clap", to visitors knocking on the door in the middle of the night as asking for a bag of salt, the stories never get boring. I'll leave you all with one of my favorite quotes. When discussing how the mothman likes to visit couples while they're parked out on deserted roads, Keel writes:
"Young love has to run in to enough hazards without the fear of a hair weirdo hammering on the windshield."

Bottom Line: For anyone who has any interest in UFOs, MIBs, or EMFs this book is a must-read.

Darkfever By Karen Marie Moning

Description from the back of the book:

""My philosophy is pretty simple-any day nobody’s
trying to kill me is a good day in my book.
I haven’t had many good days lately."

MacKayla Lane’s life is good. She has great friends, a decent job, and a car that breaks down only every other week or so. In other words, she’s your perfectly ordinary twenty-first-century woman.

Or so she thinks... until something extraordinary happens.

When her sister is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death–a cryptic message on Mac’s cell phone–Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers. The quest to find her sister’s killer draws her into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same treacherously seductive mask. She is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn how to handle a power she had no idea she possessed–a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae..."

Overall the club liked this book and most of us will continue to read the books in the series. Moning does a great job building tension (both sexual and otherwise) between the various characters, and the story is so vivid and clear through the protagonist, Mac's eyes it's easy to imagine extraordinary evens actually taking place. There were also many comparisons between the main character and narrator of these books and Sookie Stackhouse from Charlaine Harris' "Southern Vampire Mysteries". Both women are southern, from small towns, very girlie, and work in a bar. Fans of Harris' series would likely enjoy this series.
The main complaint about the book is that in and of it's self it offers little, other than a slow, but interesting start to a much bigger story. As a stand alone book, it's terrible, giving the reader no answers or return on their invested time and money in the book. As part of a series, it's intriguing. When authors do this it really bothers me. I understand you've got a bigger story to tell, but at least give me SOME closure and answers to the questions that have come up over the 250 pages of the novel.

On the plus side, it does appear the author knows where she's going with the series and hopefully will have less inconsistencies than other series that perhaps were not as preplanned to be a series.

Bottom line: If you're ready fora new series, Darkfever and the rest of the "Fever series" are a fun and intriguing read. If you're not interested in investing that much time to get answers, don't read the first one, you'll just be frustrated.

Black Magic Woman by Justin Gustainis

This is the second "official" book the real "Supernatural Book Club" has read.
Plot Summery (from the back of the book):"Occult investigator Quincey Morris and his partner, white witch Libby Chastain, are called in to help free a desperate family from a deadly curse that appears to date back to the Salem Witch Trials. To release the family from danger they must find the root of the curse, a black witch with a terrible grudge that holds the family in her power.

The pursuit takes them to the mysterious underworlds of Boston, San Francisco, New Orleans, and New York, stalking a prey that is determined to stay hidden. After surviving a series of terrifying attempts on their lives, the two find themselves drawn inexorably towards Salem itself—the very heart of darkness."

When I read the title of this book I had my doubts, several of us did. "Black Magic Woman"? That's a pretty poor title for the book, and that picture on the front? After reading the book we still couldn't figure out who that was supposed to be. The title and picture did not accurately portray what the book was about, BUT thankfully we were able to get past that. The one thing that gave me hope that the book might not be so bad was the endorsement on the front by Jim Butcher, and reading int eh acknowledgments section that Gustainis aspires to write books like Butcher's. Having read many of Butcher's books I'd say that this book is in a definitely similar style to Butcher's "The Dresden Files". And Mr. Gustainis is well on his way to his goal.

The general consensus of the book club is that "Black Magic Woman" was more enjoyable then the last book we read ("Undead and Unwed"), but really that isn't saying much. It offered mystery, intrigue, supernatural beings, all the things we love. There are also several different plot lines seen from the perspectives of several different characters in different settings. All the different plot lines are connected and tie together at the end. I think this element was what we all seemed to like best about the book, it was more complex in that regard then some of the books we've read before. The one thing missing was romance, this book is really a supernatural detective novel. Not having romance wasn't a bad thing, but if that's what you're looking for, you might be disappointed.

Bottom line: An entertaining read, plenty of action and adventure. I would recommend it for fans of Jim Butcher and The Dresden Files.

Undead and Unwed By MaryJanice Davidson

This is the first book the real-life "Supernatural Book Club" decided to read.
Summery (from the back cover)
"It's been a hell of a week for Betsy Taylor. First she loses her job. Then she's killed in a freak accident only to wake up in a morgue to discover she's a vampire. On the plus side, being undead sure beats the alternative. She now has superhuman strength and an unnatural effect on the opposite sex. But what Betsy can't handle is her new liquid diet...And whilst her mother and best-friend are just relieved to find out that being dead doesn't mean Betsy's can't visit, her new 'night-time' friends have the ridiculous idea that Betsy is the prophesied vampire queen. The scrumptious Sinclair and his cohorts want her help in overthrowing the most obnoxious power-hungry vampire in five centuries. (A Bella Lugosi wannabe who's seen one to many B-movies.) Frankly Betsy couldn't care less about vamp politics. But Sinclair and his followers have a powerful weapon in their arsenal - unlimited access to Manolo Blahnik's Spring collection. Well, just because a girl's dead - er undead - doesn't mean she can't have great shoes... "

We had some slightly varying opinions, but for the most part we found the book to be silly, humorous, and utterly ridiculous. All of theses things the author intended. What she likely did not intent was the unrelatable, shallow, petty nature of the main character Betsy, as well as the plot holes and inconsistent storyline. The book club spend more than an hour going over the inconsistencies and trying to find answers, sadly their were none. Even the way "Betsy" becomes a vampire is unbelievable and difficult to comprehend, and don't even get me started on the "feeding" and the inconsistencies (and weirdly graphic scenes) regarding that... A couple of us were able to see the story on a more surface level and enjoy the book despite this fact.

Bottom line: It's meant to be ridiculous and fun. Unfortunately the inconsistencies in the plot and the vapid nature of the protagonist rained on the parade. Because of this we decided it wasn't worth reading the rest of the books in the series. There are many other "fun" reads out there, skip this one.