A Thousand Pieces of You (Firebird #1) by Claudia Gray

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A Thousand Pieces of You caught my eye almost a year ago when it popped up on my recommendations even before it was published in November. The synopsis sounded promising, although I still retained some hesitation considering it belonged to the "dystopian" style genre with which I am not as familiar.
However, I have to say that this book was engaging, entertaining and full of adventure.
The protagonist and also the narrator of the story was represented as a multidimensional character, containing depth and human qualities that engaged the reader and increased their curiosity to find out more about this young woman bound on this unlikely journey. Having come across a few badly written stories with female leads that were supposed to show female empowerment and strength, which only ended up in complete disaster, I felt relieved and quite happy that authors nowadays are still capable creating female characters that possess strength, but do not contain the "better-than-thou" attitude, which could ruin any good story. The secondary characters were a great addition and provided a good foil to the protagonist. They aided in the fleshing out of the story, the protagonist and were able to hold up the story without solely depending on the protagonist.
The narration, independently from the character, felt easy and effortless. The reader felt as if this story was meant to be told only to the one reading it. It maintained a steady level of action interspersed with peaks of excitement that felt natural and belonging to the story, instead of acting like desperate attempts to keep the reader from falling sleep. It became quite clear early on in the narration that this story was to belong to a series or multi-part story and at the conclusion of A Thousand Pieces of You I could have jumped right into the next book.
I should dedicate a few lines to the writing style, since I very much appreciated the care the author took in choosing her style and words that made this story a great reading experience. With almost all books belonging to the YA genre, there will always be a component of romance present, ranging from a mere crush to genuine affection to intense love scenes. The romance present in this story was tastefully done, it did not take precedence over the main story and it contained an element of realism that kept the reader from rolling their eyes or even potentially losing their lunch. The love scene was equally tastefully done and it was a great relief to see that YA authors were still able to keep young love clean and elegant.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone, who enjoys a great story, great writing and plenty of surprising plot twists.

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The Almost Meeting: And Other Stories by Henry Kreisel

The Almost Meeting: And Other Stories by Henry Kreisel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This collection of short stories is quickly becoming my primary resource for the structure and organization of short story writing.
It is a wonderful collection of stories that contain depth and characters that are developed enough to establish true interest in the reader.
I appreciated the precise moment the author decided to end each story so as to create just the right amount of suspense and reader satisfaction.
These stories are definitely worth a read.

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At the Full and Change of the Moon by Dionne Brand

At the Full and Change of the Moon by Dionne Brand
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I feel like opening a bottle of champagne and inviting the neighbours to celebrate making it through this book. It was that bad.
Most of the time I had absolutely no idea what was going on. The story kept jumping back and forth in time, making it almost impossible to keep track of the generational growth that is supposed to occur throughout the story.
On any one page I read the same sentence at least three times, each time something more was added to it, which made this story extremely difficult to read, since I could never get past the senseless repetition that is supposed to add to the poetic nature of narrating the suffering and tragedy the characters had to endure. Unfortunately, in this case it did not work at all. It took away from the opportunity for the reader to connect with the characters and really experience their stories.
The story was narrated from a third person point-of-view with the added distance of using "would" or "should", making it impossible to attain an idea of the characters' true dimensions. In addition, there were more than a few instances where the vivid language of describing quite natural human urges had me almost lose my lunch. I understand that the author's intentions were to be bold and thought provoking, but these statements come across as vulgar and inappropriate. It gave the impression the author attempted to redefine the genre of Black Atlantic literature by making it unnecessarily complex and obscure, losing all the raw and intense nature that made this genre so powerful in the beginning.
That's all I will say about this book. There are so many better stories about the topic of Black Atlantic literature, just don't bother with this one.

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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, in which Tom Sawyer makes an appearance, years ago and I disliked the character of Tom Sawyer to such an extent that I refused to read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer until my desire to read good classic literature brought me once again back to the writings of Mark Twain. My enjoyment of reading this story was fueled by my current mood to read writings set in America in the 1800's, the rather difficult and stressful circumstances that surrounded my personal life and the sheer joy of reading good classic literary writing. I was surprised how the story of a rather melodramatic and adventure-seeking boy could distract me this much from that which I called my own reality and have me smiling on many occasions.
The author's writing style is light, comedic, witty and incredibly intelligent. He possesses the skill of perfect comedic timing and the theatrical flair of describing this energetic boy.
The characters are well built, multidimensional and a delight to read about. They do have the flair for the theatrical melodrama that adds to the comedy and lightheartedness that makes this story such a pleasure to read.
The plot was fairly straightforward, telling a concise story with plenty of detail without being too overbearing.
I am glad I had the opportunity to read this story at a time in my life when I could use a little cheering up and it proved to be that and so much more. I always enjoyed Mark Twain's writing, but I am quickly becoming a great fan of his. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone, who enjoys good storytelling and superb writing.

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Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin

Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I was not able to keep up with writing reviews as I finished reading each book, so for the last 20 books or so I have been rating them with the intent of returning to provide a proper review. Today it is time to explain the poor rating of Masque of the Red Death. Upon returning to this book I was surprised that I actually rated it two stars instead of just one, since whenever I think about it or mention it to someone all I can say about it is that is filled with nothing but hot air, instead of a steampunk, dystopian story of the post-apocalyptic genre.
I must say there was not one character that kept my interest, won my sympathies or possessed a remotely human or likable quality. The protagonist is whiny, spoiled, nonsensical, rude and inconsiderate, completely out of touch with the reality of the story and incapable of sympathizing with the other characters. There were quite a few times when I rolled my eyes in extreme annoyance, hoping she would meet her exit from the story sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, I was not granted such a wish. The other characters only existed to supply some fluff to the plot and provide the protagonist a few more opportunities to mope around.
I have to admit that I never read the original story by Poe, but I can tell by this retelling that he might turn in his grave, knowing what the author decided to turn this tale into. A story without any introduction of the characters or any background information, however small, and a story that wastes about 60% on a useless detail that does nothing in order to move the plot along only have it end at the precise moment the true story should have begun is a sad attempt at fictional writing.
A quick note about the "steampunk" elements. Mentioning sporadically that carriages are now steam powered and that traditional Victorian dresses (the ones with corsets and plunging necklines) are now required to be cut short in order to reveal that one has not been infected with the plague, is not really and true steampunk.
Now that I am at the conclusion of this review, I can say with confidence that my rating of this book will be changed from two stars to one star, because, honestly, do not waste your time on bad plot development and character building. I know that the young adult fiction genre can have its share of teenage angst, but this story was beyond all that a reader could handle. There are better stories containing steampunk, dystopian and post-apocalyptic elements, therefore do not bother with this one.

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Gold Rush Deluge by Suzanne Lilly

Gold Rush Deluge by Suzanne Lilly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was very glad that the story continued where it ended in the first book, I wholeheartedly appreciate stories told in series form that do not include great time gaps, flashbacks or require the reader to assume certain outcomes.
The story moved along swiftly, without any unnecessary tangents that distract from the main plot that was good enough to carry the story and characters from the beginning until the end.
The characters were consistent from the first to the second installment of this story; however, I was delighted to observe growth and maturation in the protagonist's character.
I loved the splash of intrigue and mystery that the author decided to include in this installment and was impressed by her creation of a volatile character that seemed so real.
Overall, I felt that the author was more comfortable with the story and characters in this installment, since she already possessed a good feel for the personality traits and nature of character.
This story was a great sequel and I would recommend it to anyone, who enjoyed the first story as well as those, who enjoy mystery, romance and adventure.

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Dark Destiny (Dark Mirror #3) by Mary Jo Putney

Dark Destiny by M.J. Putney
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The third and last book in this trilogy again contained more depth with respect to the secondary characters than the female protagonist, whom I have given up believing to be capable of developing at all. As I have said it is much more enjoyable to follow the secondary characters as they embark on their adventure, although I found the challenges that they had to face in this installment, and the solutions they found to those challenges, to be rather mediocre, compared to the challenges they had to overcome in the last two books.
I also found the romance between the protagonist and her male counterpart to contain a cheesy element that diminished my interest in their relationship instead of hoping for a happy ending.
All in all, this was still a very decent trilogy, the conclusion to which could have been slightly stronger, but it still worked for the most part. I would recommend this book and the entire trilogy to anyone, who enjoys lighthearted young adult fiction of the regency period with clean romance and a fair amount of magic.

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