Matt Dinniman: Dungeon Crawler Carl

 

In the first of a series Matt Dinniman takes readers into a game show where you either survive or die:

Dungeon Crawler Cark has certainly been making the rounds on all the Book accounts this past year and I totally get the hype. This is not something that i would typically read as in the video game aspect of the book, but I would read a dystopian book so i figured i would enjoy this book. Yes I did enjoy it. It was fast paced, funny but still full of heart. You see the good and the bad of Human Kind through out this book and I think Carl really feels like your an average person.

Carl feels like the perfect person to focus on in this book. He is feels like your average male who is just living a basic life with his girlfriend and her cat. There is really nothing special about Carl and this is exactly what makes him special. He doesn't go into the dungeon with any special skills, he can stomp things, and kind of throw a punch. The one thing he does have is basic video game knowledge which he uses throughout the book to help explain aspects of the game to other players, Doughnut and the readers too. 

I would be remiss not to mention Doughnut. Doughnut has become a phenomenon of her own (I do not joke, I saw a decal of her on the back of a truck the other day) and Doughnut is awesome for just being Doughnut. I appreciate that she tells it is like it is, from what was happening in their lives before they entered the dungeon (Poor Carl) and in the dungeon itself. She is selfish like a you would expect a talking cat to be and doesn't really have an inside voice or comments that she make.

You can also tell that there is more to come than just Carl and Doughnut navigating the game. There are not only Human rivals but the tension outside of the game as well. The whole social media aspect was very interesting as well and very on pace for people of Earth. Good to know we are not the only one addicted to social media.

The one thing that i found annoying in this book was all the loot opening boxes. it got really repetitive really fast and could have done without it after the first few. I understand they are important to the video game aspect of the book, I just found i was skipping those pages as mostly the received the same thing or something cool but you really didn't know how it was going to come into play right then anyway so the descriptions felt a little bit pointless. I feel if you took out the parts, the book would be around 30ish pages less.

I'm sold, I really enjoyed this book, it was fresh to me with the videogame aspect and I want to read more. I think that Dinniman has created a unique dystopian world and a cast of characters that are not only loveable but real as well (as real as a talking cat can be). I look forward to continuing on with this series.

Enjoy!!!

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Noelle W. Ihli: Ask for Andrea

 

Noelle W Ihli takes readers on a heartbreaking read as those murdered try to prevent it from happening again:

This is the first book that I have read by Ihli and though this book is short is certainly packs a punch. Ask for Andrea is a code for when someone needs help from a bartender or server when they dont feel safe. This would be similar to an Angel Shot that women can order at a bar. This book is heart breaking and at time graphic as you live the last moments of three women in this book and having them experience time outside of their bodies. It continues to be heartbreaking when the women are trying to prevent their murder.

You really feel the urgency, frustration and desperation that the women go through as they try to prevent others from being taken. They find things they are able to manipulate along the way but it never seems to be enough. They also take different path in finding James after he has murdered them so there is not a duplication after they are murdered, they each need to find their own paths.

I appreciated that Ihli would circle back to the living, what the family of the missing/murdered women as well as the investigation into what happened to them. I also enjoyed Ihli's perspective of what happens after we die. I like the idea that we find the family members from before, going back in generations so that one can feel their love.

Ihli has something different here with who is telling the story here and that can be something hard to come by in thriller genres. I look forward to checking out more books by Ihli.

Enjoy!!!

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Elsie Silver: Wild Love

In the first of a series, Elsie Silver shows that you never do forget those you always loved:

This is the first book that I have read by Silver and I get it. I get why lots of people love her books, this book was a fun read in a small town with some great banter between the characters that kept me engaged in the story from start to finish. I'm also kind of a sucker for the Grumpy/Sunshine Trope.

My favourite part of this book was how, Rosie and Ford interacted with each other. From the funny emails to what they were like together in the flashbacks, I felt really invested in their relationship right from the beginning. I loved that Ford needed to get away from the city and go back to the place that truly felt home for him. I loved that they were friends growing up but secretly loved each other all along and I loved that they knew how to push each other buttons for knowing the other person so long. I really enjoyed that Ford also forcibly becomes a single Dad and how he handles finding out that news and what he does after it as well.

The side characters in this book were also well done from Cora, the angsty teenager to Rosie's brother West I felt like I got to know those characters really well. Also, I mean a Men's bowling league, all with grumpy men, I'm sold.

I look forward to checking out the rest of the series and hope that Silver can capture the heart and fun that she has in this one.

Enjoy!!!!

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V. E. Schwab: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

 

V.E. Schwab takes readers on a journey of if one lives forever, what efforts will one go to survive but to also love:

I have not read too many books by Schwab, but like the other books that I have read by her this one was beautifully written. I felt transported into the different timeline that Schwab presents here and I love that we get to know each of the characters at the beginning of their transformations into vampires. I enjoyed that Schwab used some of the traditional vampire lore but not all and had some of her own in there as well. She was able to put her own stamp on vampires especially how becoming a vampire really heightens an individual’s personality/who they are before they are turned.

Yes, Thank you Schwab for making the vampires deadly and cruel and gruesome at times and using their powers not only to survive, but thrive and to terrify. I enjoyed that for the most part they do not shy away from the predators that they are and that they are the top of the food chain especially at night. I also enjoyed that each of the women are different and that their voices are different that you know who you are reading. 

I do hope that Schwab does a spin off series for this with either some of the characters or who is left at the end of this book. I know I want more of these types of vampires and the span, scope and journey that the women in this book go on.

This book makes me want to read more by Schwab and I completely understand the hype around her books and writing.

Enjoy!!!

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Jennifer Hillier: Heart of Glass

Jennifer Hillier takes readers back to Seaside and Wonderland, where nothing in the small town is what it seems:

I will start with saying I have not yet read Wonderland before reading this book and while I do not think it is required reading (this book can be read as a standalone) I wish I would have had more background about seaside as a town. All that said, I enjoyed this book. I loved that there was more than one mystery that is played out in the book as well as the differ t POV. I was shocked and happy when Hillier change to POV that I did not expect.

I’m a sucker for small towns with even bigger secrets and I think that Hillier does a great job with both here. Hillier was able to keep me guessing on both fronts of the mysteries in this book. You wonder what happened not only years earlier with Barb and Cole but also the missing women. And that end twist I did not see coming.

I will say there were a few things that by the end that were left unanswered, maybe this is on purpose, maybe not. Hillier released this Wonderland in 2015 so maybe there might be another story based on Seaside coming our way eventually, as it seem Hillier is okay to play the long game.

Hillier is one of my favourites for thriller and suspense books. I’m still working my way through her backlist but Wonderland has moved to the top of the list for me. I can’t wait to read more by her

Enjoy!!!!

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Lynette Noni: The Prison Healer

 

In the first in a series, Lynette Noni show the length a girl has had to go to to survive ten years in prison.

I had not heard of Noni or this series before, but I am extremely happy that I picked this book up and that the trilogy is completed as you better believe I will be picking the next book up ASAP. This book had me hooked from the beginning mainly with Kiva's character and what she has been forced to do and then as the plot unfolds I could not turn the pages fast enough. There are deadly trials in this book, but I found they were secondary to the overall plot as Kiva waits to be rescued (she has been waiting for ten years) and her dedication to figuring out a deadly illness that has appeared in the prison. The ending of the book, the twist I don't think anyone will see it coming, it was so well done.

Kiva is both liked and hated within the prison as she has had to do anything to survive in a prison since she was seven. This means that she has spied for the warden, been loyal to the warden therefore against the prisoners, manly those who are part of the rebellion. But Kiva is also the prison doctor so those who hate her also need her and Kiva does everything in her ability in order to help them.

This book is considered YA but due to the fact that Kiva has had to grow up really fast in order to survive in the prison, I do not feel like she reads as a teenage character. She is wiser than her years and you can tell that she has seen some things and survived a lot of things.

The world building is okay. I understand most of it, but due to the fact that Kiva was 7 when she was imprisoned, we don't get much about the outside world. We know there is a rebellion going on, that would seek to usurp the current ruling family and that members of the royal family have elemental powers. So the world building that we do get is that within the prison and the lives that people have there. I think the farther we get into the trilogy more will become known, so this did not take away from my overall enjoyment of this book.

I really enjoyed this book. It is fast paced YA fantasy that I think adults will also enjoy. It's a completed trilogy so no waiting for the next books to come out and you'll want to next book on hand after the cliffhanger at the end of this book. To me this is YA fantasy done right.

Enjoy!!!!

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