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Posted:
Sep 6, 2012
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Soulless

Author: Gail Carriger
First Published: 2009
Publisher: Orbit
Series: Parasol Protectorate #1
365 pages (mass market paperback)

I’ve seen this book appear on a number of Goodreads friends’ pages and was interested in it because 1) it took place in a steampunk Victorian period and 2) it’s a mish-mash of vampires, werewolves and ghosts. Essentially, I was under the impression it was a quirky book that would be fun to read and I’m happy to say, now that I finished reading it, that it is exactly that. Sometimes it’s nice to read something not serious, and Soulless was a great getaway. It was almost like fantasy chick-lit.

Soulless is about 26 year old spinster, Alexia Tarabotti. She is, if you haven’t guessed, soulless, which means she is “immune” to supernatural creatures. She can’t be bitten by them, for example, and they become human when touched by her. She lives in a steampunk Victorian era London, where werewolves, vampires and ghosts are real and integrated into society. Such supernatural creatures are registered with BUR (Bureau of Unnatural Registry) so they are all kept track of. At a ball one day, Alexia is attacked by an unregistered vampire, whom she accidentally kills. Lord Maccon, an alpha werewolf, a BUR worker and ridiculously gorgeous, is sent to investigate the killing. Nobody knows who this vampire is or where he came from. What’s worse is that registered supernaturals are disappearing and more unknown supernaturals are appearing. Even worse, everyone thinks Alexia may have something to do with this, being soulless and all.

The first thing I noticed was the writing style. It’s different from most novels, I think. I don’t really know how to describe it, other than that it’s quirky. I enjoyed the writing a lot and found it suited the humorous Victorian setting of this book. It’s witty, it’s funny and I was never bored at any time when reading this. I imagine this kind of writing style isn’t going to be for everyone, but I personally really liked it.

All the characters are very memorable and I love them all. Because of the type of story it is and the kind of atmosphere the book has, I’m not surprised that all the characters are kind of “cartoon-ish”; in fact, I loved it. Alexia is a bold, intellectual and independent woman who has resigned to the fact that she’ll probably never marry because frankly, no husband wants a wife this assertive in such a time period. That isn’t to say she doesn’t have her feminine moments. Alexia has resigned to being a spinster, but she does kind of wish she has a husband and a family and all that jazz. I loved her relationship with Lord Maccon, who becomes a love interest of her’s very early on in the story. They seem to irritate one another at first, but later it is revealed they both are quite fond of one another. Lord Maccon is so protective of Alexia, it is just adorable! I was a little surprised by how much romance was in this book (namely, all the kissing/making out scenes), but I found myself quite enjoying them bantering with one another. Even the characters that don’t speak much have wonderfully endearing qualities. For example, I really love Alexia’s family butler, Floote. He doesn’t say much, he doesn’t even appear much, but I just imagine him hovering around in the background, worrying over Alexia entertaining her adventurous spirit, and it just makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

I think this is a delightfully written book that’s fun to read if you’re yearning for something light and fun. I am looking forward to reading more about Alexia in the next books in this series (makes me happy to know there are at least four more books after this first one)!

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Posted:
Aug 19, 2012
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Dexter In The Dark

Author: Jeff Lindsay
Series: Dexter #3
First Published:  2007
Publisher: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
303 pages (paperback)

This is the third installment of the Dexter series, and while overall I enjoyed it and liked it, the new paranormal/supernatural elements added in this book threw me off and lessened my liking of it. I’m not saying crime or mystery novels can’t have supernatural elements to it. Just in this series, it feels horribly off. The first two Dexter books have established a world, a universe, of certain set rules, and 3000 year old gods weren’t a part of it. Dexter’s Dark Passenger was (I thought) a metaphor for the killing urges Dexter has. I mean, there just really wasn’t anything to suggest it was anything more than that. I didn’t expect the Dark Passenger to suddenly become a real thing.

In Dexter In The Dark, Dexter is in the midst of wedding preparations, trying to become a mentor to young Cody and Astor and of course, his dark hobby. When he is called to investigate a crime scene, Dexter finds his Dark Passenger retreating inside of him, as if it was scared, until one day, it simply disappeared. Even worse, someone or something is stalking him — the Watcher, it is called, which turns out to be a 3000 year old god that goes from one human host to the next. The murders that started all this get worse as well, as victims keep turning up all being killed in the same manner. Dexter feels the murders must be somehow related to the disappearance of his Dark Passenger but he hasn’t a clue.

As I already mentioned, this book threw me off. I didn’t expect the 3000 year old god thing to be literal, yet it was. I mean, if this wasn’t a Dexter book, I think it would be a fine, solid book, but it’s a Dexter book and paranormal elements were not a part of the first two. The whole time I was reading, I kept thinking, “Nah, there’s going to be some logical explanation at the end of the book that will explain everything” but it turned out the fantastical explanation was the explanation. It also feels like it cheapened Dexter, the character. The idea that he’s just a guy under demonic possession and not a serial killer just cheapens the whole thing. “Dexter’s really quite human! He’s just possessed by this demon thing!” Well, that is not the reason why I enjoyed reading about Dexter in the first place.

I know I’m making it sound like this book is horrible or something, but it’s really not. It’s just my one complaint about the book turned out to be a rather huge complaint, so it comes off that way. It’s a good, solid book, with good, solid entertainment, though even minus the supernatural stuff, it’s a bit lackluster compared to the first two books. Dexter furthers his relationship development with Astor and Cody, which is a huge focus of this novel, I felt. They have Dark Passengers of their own and Dexter is trying to become a sort of mentor to them, but the two kids just don’t listen to Dexter too well. The mystery is a little lackluster because it’s so intertwined with the ancient god thing, but still, I enjoyed reading about Dexter and Deborah attempting to solve the case anyway.

I think overall, this book is fine. It’s not great and quite unexpected, but it’s okay. I hope the next few Dexter books are more like the first two though.

My Rating:

Posted:
May 10, 2012
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Dearly Devoted Dexter

Author: Jeff Lindsay
Series: Dexter #2
Published: January 2005
Publisher: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
292 pages

Reading this Dexter book was different from reading the first Dexter book, for me, because the second book (and all subsequent books in the series) are not the same as the TV show at all, which is what I am firmly acquainted with. So compared to the first book, I truly had no idea what to expect.

This second installment of the series has Dexter start off with trying to track down a nasty killer pedophile’s accomplice. Alas, it is very difficult being a serial killer when your intimidating work colleague suspects you’re up to no good and has begun stalking you 24/7. Thus, Dexter finds himself spending more and more time with his “disguise” — his girlfriend, Rita, in an attempt to show Sergeant Doakes that he’s really a very normal guy.

However, Dexter finds himself on the same side as Doakes when another serial killer has made his way into town. Deborah, Dexter’s sister, insists that Dexter help find this crazed killer. However, Dexter finds it difficult to keep up his end of the bargain when he realizes Doakes is on the killer’s list … and if Doakes is gone, Dexter would be free once again.

I definitely enjoyed this novel, particularly since I had no idea what to expect from my favourite serial killer (… that sounds so wrong, I know. He’s fictional though!) Once again, Dexter’s witty and clever remarks have won me over, and I thought the new main bad guy, that other serial killer, was quite interesting as well. I don’t want to reveal the ending, but when his motivations were revealed, I was like, “Ohhhh! It all makes sense now!” Really, I should have seen it sooner, but nonetheless, it was creative and great.

I found this novel moved a little slower than the first, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Just an observation. The first book flowed quickly, while this one takes its a time a little more, though it’s by no means a slow book. I think this allowed for more time for not only Dexter’s character to develop, but others such as Deborah and Doakes as well, who were really rather minor and flat characters from the first book.

There are two things that kind of bug me however. The first is a spoiler for the first book so skip this paragraph if you don’t want to know — in the first book, in the end, Deborah finds out that Dexter is a killer. I really dislike how this second book didn’t delve into this issue at all. Deborah is clearly a very law abiding cop who is determined to throw every criminal in jail. I just feel so dissatisfied that there was absolutely no discussion about Deborah knowing about Dexter’s dark side. The only time it was ever mentioned was when Deborah asked Dexter for help and kind of threatened him with, “I know what you are.” To me, I think she’s trying to ignore the fact she learned that her brother is a killer, but still, I would have thought something would have been talked about between the two. For example, Dexter could have said something like I tried to talk to Deborah about what she saw and heard that night but she pushes me away each time, so I conclude that she doesn’t want to talk about it, wants to ignore that part about me. That’s just a crude example, but you know … something.

The other thing I dislike was the epilogue. I also didn’t like the epilogue from the first book. I found them both too short and they don’t feel like they properly wrap up the loose ends. Almost like they’re hastily tacked onto the end.

All in all, I was really into this book, as much as I was into the first and I would be, of course, reading the rest of the series. Just can’t get enough of Dexter! I love the mysteries and it’s just such a neat angle to have a serial killer chasing down a serial killer. I do hope the epilogues improve though.

My Rating:

Posted:
Mar 20, 2012
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Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Author: Jeff Lindsay
Series: Dexter #1
Published: July 2004
Publisher: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
288 pages (paperback) 

Background: I’m a huge fan of the Dexter TV show. I have a large poster of Michael C. Hall portraying Dexter in my bedroom (a bloodless and not-creepy poster, which was a little difficult to find given the nature of the show). So obviously, since I love the show and I love to read, it was only a matter of time before I got my grubby little hands on the series. Which I recently did thanks to my mother, who gifted them to me as a birthday present. (Speaking of which, I really should do an IMM post soon). My point is — this review is probably a little bias, although I tried not to be.

With all that said, I did try to forget everything I know about the TV series while reading this book, although some comparisons will inevitably arise. Darkly Dreaming Dexter is about a guy named Dexter (duh). He’s a blood spatter pattern analyzer for the Miami Metro Police force on the outside … but on the inside, he’s a rather successful serial killer. But never fear, he only goes after bad guys; people who have killed other people.

Dexter’s life is going pretty okay. He’s kept up his cover as a normal human being for many years now. But there’s another serial killer in town and Dexter is, for once in his life, a bit frightened. Whoever this killer is, he’s copying Dexter’s killing style, and leaving some very strange messages for him. Friend? Or foe?

I swear I’m not intentionally being bias here, but this was a good book. It’s short, which obviously factors into the reason why I got through it in less than a day, but also, it is addictive and difficult to put down once you start.

It’s entirely in first person, so we’re inside Dexter’s head the whole time. Now, you might think it’s creepy being inside the head of a serial killer, but Dexter is a very interesting character, and for a serial killer, he really isn’t that creepy. He only kills bad people, and he recognizes that what he is doing is not socially acceptable so he isn’t psychotically trying to justify himself, which makes the reader feel a little less guilty about liking a serial killer character. And he’s very likeable. He’s got a wicked sense of black humour, and he (or the author, or both) loves alliteration. Oh, the alliteration! Dexter’s got some style there. I mean, come on, reading “very careful cold coiled creeping crackly cocked and ready …” is kind of cool. I think Dexter is what makes this book so interesting. I don’t read a lot of crime fiction (barely any) but I’ve always been under the impression characters in such books are usually the detectives chasing down the criminals. I like Dexter a lot because we’re inside the criminal’s head instead … though, being a part of the police force, he is still chasing down criminals. Criminals chasing criminals, who is going to come out on top? Love that.

Even if you’ve watched the TV show, you should try reading the book for sure. The first season was loosely based off of this first book (and subsequent seasons are not based off of any of the subsequent sequels, so this is the only one), so while there are similarities, some things are different enough that even I did not know what was going to happen, and thus, was glued to the pages. As a whole, the general plot is the same, but the TV show really expanded the book (which, like I said, is quite short) and changed a bunch of things. Some of the characters aren’t even in the same roles. I can’t really say which is better, the show or the book — I really love both of them.

Now, the ending of the book is considerably less conclusive, less well-done than the TV show. The ending is markedly different from how the first season of the TV show went, so everything that happened in the ending was a surprise to me. I liked the ending in general, but it was rather abrupt and I felt like it left way too many questions than answers. The epilogue also felt a bit rushed and too short.

I’m super excited to read the sequels though! Since they are completely different from the TV show at this point, I have no idea what to expect and I’m tremendously excited to find out ;P

My Rating:

Posted:
Mar 7, 2012
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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Author: Douglas Adams
Published: January 1979
Publisher: Picador
Series: Hitchhiker’s Guide #1
180 pages

I had heard of this book before I read it, but I had no idea what it was about. I never saw the movie either, so I walked into this experience truly not knowing what to expect at all.

It’s a regular day for Arthur Dent (well, sort of — he’s trying to stop the city from bulldozing his house to build a new highway). To his surprise, his best friend of fifteen years, Ford, reveals to him that he is actually an alien and has been hitchhiking around the galaxy — that is, until he got stuck here, on Earth, for the past fifteen years. Ford also lets Arthur know that Earth is about to become demolished for a new hyperspace bypass but no worries, he’s got a ride hooked up for the two of them before Earth explodes. The two of them eventually find their way onto the ship, the Heart of Gold, and through the use of its Improbability Drive, encounter all sorts of strange, bizarre coincidences …

First things first, this book is kind of plotless. I’ll totally admit that. It doesn’t really seem to have a point, a greater goal that the characters are striving towards. There’s some vague mysteries that don’t really seem too important, and the ending of the book was really not an ending at all, more like an abrupt stop. I’m not going to point out the bizarre coincidences though, just because those are meant to be in the story via Improbability Drive and in a strange way, made sense to me. Other readers may not feel the same way though.

With that said, I actually liked the book a lot. It was really funny and quirky to me, kind of like watching a cartoon show. There were some subtle digs and social commentary as well, which I always love, though admittedly they were overshadowed by the silliness of the entire story. Sure, things don’t make sense a lot, but it fits with the type of humor this book contains. Super intelligent mice, depressed robots, luxury planet building businesses … this book is like a pot where the author threw every crazy idea together just to see what happens. That, along with Douglas Adams’ witty writing style just hit the spot for me.

I also finally discovered where a lot of pop culture sayings come from now: this book! Like, “Don’t Panic” and how the answer to life, the universe and everything is 42, and some other ones. I heard of those sayings before and never knew where they came from. I just figured they were from some old TV show I never watched because I was too young or whatever. Feels kind of satisfying to discover the origin!

I can understand not every reader is going to like this book. If you are a “serious reader” who requires strict structure and whatnot in your books, this book is probably not for you. You definitely need a certain type of sense of humour to enjoy this book and have to be open to the idea that nothing’s going to make perfect sense. It’ll make some sense, but still, nonsense. This book is definitely one of those hit-or-miss types of books — you’re either gonna like it or dislike it for what it is. However, if it’s of any persuasion, most people seem to enjoy it and it is often considered one of the modern classics of literature.

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Posted:
Oct 2, 2011
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Beauty Queens

Author: Libbra Bray
Published: May 2011
Publisher: Scholastic Press
390 pages (hardcover)

Some of my friends may know that I am pretty anti-beauty-pageant. So it may come as a surprise that I decided to go and read a book about, well, beauty pageants. The synopsis said that the book was about a group of beauty queens who find themselves trapped on a deserted island and must use their beauty supplies, equipment and knowledge to survive until rescue. I actually found the idea pretty interesting, which is why I decided to put it in my “Want To Read” list (and consequently, my sister got it for me).

Fifty Miss Teen Dream beauty pageants are traveling on a plane to a beach area to take some promotional pictures. Unfortunately, the plane crash lands on a deserted island, killing nearly everyone, except for thirteen beauty queens (I believe it was thirteen — it started with twelve, but then they found one more survivor). With only themselves to depend on, the Miss Teen Dreamers attempt to organize themselves and think of ingenious ways of survival.

Meanwhile, on the same island, the Corporation is aware the Teen Dreamers have crash landed on the island. This is not part of their plan, however, they plot a way to weave the bright and beautiful young ladies of America into their plan for world domination …

I walked into this story expecting a chick-lit type book. I won’t argue if you want to categorize this book as such, but it is also a lot more than that. This book, to me, is a completely hilarious satire of American culture and lifestyle (or, more broadly, North American).

The way many of the girls hold the beauty pageant in their minds shows how much emphasis everyone puts on appearances. The way the entire book is written with (fake) product placements shows how much corporations are taking over (for example, if I remember correctly, one of the characters comment on how a natural clay she finds on the island makes a great moisturizer. It was followed by a superscript, and in the footnotes, an “advertisement” for a Corporation product: “For skin that’s silky smooth, try The Corporation’s Pore It On mask.”  There were also references towards celebrities, TV shows (ex. Jersey Shore), Facebook, a variety of beauty products with silly names like Tan-So-Right. There were the beauty pageant application pages submitted by each contestant, with footnotes from The Corporation censoring certain parts or hinting that said contestant should change some of her words so that they are more Corporation friendly. And then there were the “commercial breaks”, which were my favourite: just straight-up silly, blatant satire of commercials and American lifestyle, telling you what you want, because the Corporation knows best.

There were all kinds of characters, and they were mostly one-dimensional, but given the nature of the book and the cartoon-y effect it was going for, there really was no need for “deep” characters at all. While there were some of the stereotypical “dumb blonde” type of beauty queen, I also encountered many different social issues that the characters explored in this story. We have some girls who are in the pageant because that is all they know how to do, and they are extremely determined to win. We have girls who are in the pageant only to win scholarship money to go to college. We have a Black girl and an Indian girl, who both know the odds are stacked against them because it is unspoken that there can only be one non-White beauty queen in the final round (racial issues). We even have an undercover feminist journalist who is trying to expose the beauty pageant world for what it “really is”. I know she may seem like the “beacon of hope” in a story such as this, but even she has her problems, because she’s the type of feminist who decries make-up and dressing up and fails to realize that sometimes, a girl just wants to pretty herself up, not necessarily for the sake of a boy.

This was a very fun book to read and I enjoyed it immensely. It really is laugh out loud funny and it was incredibly thrilling trying to catch all the pop culture references.

While I found the beginning of the book quite addictive, I found the last third of the book a bit eye-roll-worthy. I think the book crossed the line between satire and plain ridiculousness. The ending of the book was just a bit too cartoon-like, if you know what I mean. For example, the Corporation hanging its captives over a tank of piranha fish and  slowly lowering them in head first. I also wasn’t too crazy about the shipful of hot boy (actor) pirates who randomly crash land on the deserted island, and naturally, InstaLove was abound. Granted, it was satire and meant to be humourous, so I didn’t expect any deep meaningful relationships but … come on, really?

Despite my complaint about the ending, I think all in all, this was a great story and it was really addicting to read. Even if you don’t catch all the references or understand the satire going on in the background, I think anyone can enjoy this book and take something away from it.

My Rating: