Bookish Wednesday: Accidental Warrior by Jamie and C.J. Davis

This week for Bookish Wednesday I’m back with a sequel to a book I covered over a year ago. It’s Accidental Warrior, Accidental Traveler Book 02, by Jamie and C.J. Davis!

Plot: The plot is okay, but honestly I was disappointed that it took the story where it did. Honestly I didn’t really care for Hal’s annoying antics as much as I had found them endearing in the previous book. The fact that he continued to rely on his Luck stat as much as he did just seemed foolhardy and a tool for blatant Deux Ex Machina whenever the authors felt like it. That said it’s not a completely terrible book, but the story is really not that amazing compared to other stories I’ve read.

Characters:  Honestly I can’t say I enjoyed Hal nearly in this second book as this the first. I could deal with the wise ass comments and the foolhardy nature he displayed since he was a gentleman rogue in the first book, in this book where he is supposed to be a warrior it just makes him look like a tool. Kay isn’t much better, running off and getting captured, again, in a really stupid manner. Honestly I didn’t enjoy the cast of characters in this book.

Overall: An okay sequel, if incredibly predictable and stereotypical.

Bookish Wednesday: Soulbound to a Dragon by Kurtis Eckstein

This week for Bookish Wednesday I’m back with a rather disappointing book. It’s Soulbound to a Dragon, Pantherians of Azra Book 01, by Kurtis Eckstein!

Plot: The plot is incredibly stereotypical and while there are a few new ideas the fact that the star crossed tragic lovers trope was in full play meant they were not enough to catch my interest or energy to bother getting past a certain point in the book. The setting is okay, it serves as sort of Urban Fantasy/Magitech sort of world, but the fact that the author decided to use the word Pantherian to mean all half breed characters despite the fact that the main character is a female with black hair and cat ears and tail was just the icing on the boring cake. I mean if you use the word Pantherian, you are going to think of a panther. Especially with that cover art. Sure you shouldn’t judge a book by the cover, but it’s a pretty obvious flaw.

I assume that it was a play on the word Therianthrope, meaning a human who can shapeshift to an animal form, but to have our main point of view character be a panther girl makes the entire word choice completely useless and nonsense when the next major character we meet is a half breed of a human and a freaking dragon. Pantherian doesn’t really fit for a species classification there now does it? Frankly with all that and the stupid tragic lovers trope being played straight for all it’s worth, it just meant I was completely and utterly unenthusiastic to bother reading past a certain point. I used to stick to my rule that I’ll finish out a story no matter how bad it is, but with the amount of stories that I’ve experienced over the years, and that has only increased exponentially since I started writing a few years ago, I’ve since had to modify my rules. Frankly the stereotypical plot and the nonsensical verbage all meant I had little reason to continue with the book. I had enough warning flags going off in my head to tell me not to bother with this story, so I listened to my instincts and didn’t bother reading past a certain point. Normally I don’t do this, as even terrible books deserve my time to utterly lambast them, but I had more important things to do.

Characters: Riel is our main character and point of view through which we see this world of Azra. Frankly she’s much too ignorant and way too pessimistic about her situation. Granted she has every reason to be given how ignorant she is, but it’s such an overdone stereotype that I couldn’t bother liking her all that much. The rest of the cast was little better, with Eli being our main male character.

Overall: Skip this book, it’s really not worth your time when you will likely waste reading or listening to this.

For those who like: Stereotypical Plots, Nonsensical Verbage even for Fantasy.

Not for those who don’t like: Either of the above, or mediocrity.

 

 

Bookish Wednesday: Holes by Louis Sachar

I’m back for this week’s Bookish Wednesday with another classic novel I read when I was a kid. It’s Holes by Louis Sachar!

Plot: The plot is a mix of interconnected stories with characters from the 18th century to the present day. It’s all pretty interesting, although a younger kid, who isn’t like me, would most likely be confused by the constant timeline changes that take place over the course of the book. Still it was a good story and I enjoyed it as a kid despite not meeting the “advised” age. Of course considering I’d read books like War and Peace, The Stand and Stranger in a Strange Land by the time I was 12 that isn’t too surprising.

Characters: The entire cast is pretty good, although my favorite character was Stanley the protagonist. Still every character is unique and has their own “charm” so I don’t dislike them all that much, though when I was younger I definitely had some characters I wouldn’t mind tossing into a few holes myself.

Overall: A solid book, and definitely worth a read if you never read it before, this is a book for almost anyone of any age, except maybe kids younger than 8, unless they are oddballs like myself.

For those who like: Triparite Storylines, Great Plot, Good Cast of Characters.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Bookish Wednesday: The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Hey all I’m back with a book that has taken me years to remember the name of for this week’s Bookish Wednesday. It’s The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster!

Plot: Let me get this out of the way, this a book meant for kids. Anyone older than twelve will not either appreciate the book because they find it boring and they’ll miss the entire meaning behind it or they’ll already know it and not really enjoy the story for what it is except for the puns. Now as I have stated before I despise Literary Analysis, but this meaning was very blatant and was a big reason I stopped hating school as much as I did growing up as a kid. That isn’t to say I still didn’t hate it, because I absolutely did due to numerous other reasons. However it was never because I didn’t like learning. The reasons why I still hated school is a topic for another day, perhaps a Sensate Saturday post.  So now that that is out of the way I loved this book due to it’s puns and clever word usage. The entire book is filled with them and it’s all quite creative. I won’t spoil the story itself, and while it is very simple it was a good lesson as a kid.

Characters: Milo is our main character and I very much identified with him as a kid. We were both incredibly intelligent kids, who just couldn’t bother with subjects which didn’t interest us at all. Afterwards that was still true for me, but I’d at least attempt to learn something new before stopping due to either lack of ability to do so or a clear lack of interest in continuing further studies of that subject. The rest of the cast is just as colorful, and I enjoyed them all.

Overall: This is a great kids book that every child should read. Screw Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, this book is much more important to read as a kid.

For those who like: Good stories with a very clear lesson, Fun Cast of Characters.

Not for those who don’t like: Either of the above.

Bookish Wednesday: Future Tense by John Van Stry

This week for Bookish Wednesday I’m covering the final entry of a series I’ve covered in the past. It’s Future Tense, Days of Future Past Book 3, by John Van Stry!

Plot: The plot is pretty great and it rounds out the series very well. I honestly wasn’t expecting this series to end the way it did, but I’m not upset that it did since so few stories these days can truly surprise me.

Characters: We finally get introduced to the series antagonist, Aybem, in this entry and I have to say it was a surprise to see who it really was. I won’t say more because that’s super spoilerific, but needless to say it was very well played by Mr. Stry.

Overall: A good ending to a solid series, if you enjoy Sci-Fi mixed with Fantasy at all you’ll most likely enjoy this series and it’s final book in particular.