![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
So I decided to take the ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
50bookchallenge again this year. I started it a couple of years ago then ran out of steam mid-year. Maybe 2007 will be a good year for the nibblings of bookworms...
Book #1:
An Accidental Goddess by Linnea Sinclair
I Rate it: 5.5/10
Category: Romance/Science Fiction-Fantasy
Raheiran Special Forces captain Gillaine Davré has just woken up in some unknown space way station, wondering where the last three hundred years have gone. The last thing she remembers is her ship being attacked. Now it seems that while she was time-traveling, she was ordained a goddess…. Gillaine’s only hope of survival rests with dangerously seductive Admiral Mack Makarian, who suspects her of being a smuggler—or worse.
I was a bit disappointed by this book - I thought it would be a science fiction novel with lashings of romance. It turned out to be a romance novel with lashings of science fiction. That misconception aside, the worldbuilding was really interesting. The female characters were more believable than the men (then again this was a romance novel!) but the characters were all engaging and not too 'superhuman'. Sadly I felt the ending was predictable. Which, OK, is what you want in a romance novel, but overall the book could have been so, so much better. I felt the author went for the safe and formulaic when it was very obvious she was capable of much more.
I bought another of this author's books at the same time, so it will be interesting to see if she follows the same pattern.
My take: Enjoyable enough Mind Candy, readable once but I doubt I'd bother twice. Borrow from a library, a friend or a book exchange, or buy it second hand. The book equivalent of a cup of hot tea - pleasant, but not terribly challenging.
Book #2:
Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs
I Rate it: 8.5/10
Category: Crime thriller
Dr. Tempe Brennan, a trowel-packing forensic anthropologist from North Carolina, works in Montreal's Laboratoire de Medecine Legale examining recovered bodies to help police solve missing-persons cases and murders. It's clear to Tempe that the remains of several women killed and savagely mutilated point to a sadistic serial killer, but she can't convince the police. Determined to prevent more brutal deaths, she sleuths solo, tracking her quarry through Montreal's seedy underworld of hookers.
I've conceived a dislike of first person narrative, so have a few problems reading it. But despite being narrated this way, I enjoyed Deja Dead. The story seemed very internally focused but this was offset by the book's atmosphere and the clarity of the descriptions of the environment. I couldn't totally relate to the main protagonist, Dr. Tempe Brennan, but despite suspecting she's as big a Mary Sue as Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta, grew to like her over the course of the book. There isn't a great deal of in-depth or friendly interaction with secondary characters, although her occasional lusting after a cute male was amusing. There was enough scientific explanation in the book to be interesting without becoming too academic, and the grisly parts likewise were unpleasant without being overly gross. The action is fast paced however, and by the end of the book I was sitting on the edge of my seat. This is the start of the series and I'm looking forward to seeing how the character and her life develop.
I'm also very keen on the TV series "Bones", which is based on Kathy Reichs and her books. Despite the fact the main character in both is Dr. Tempe Brennan, so far there is little in common between the book and the TV series except her job, and a certain lack of social adeptness on Tempe's part. Both are worth viewing however.
My take: A solid thriller, worth a reread. Easily found second hand or borrow from a library, a friend or a book exchange. The book equivalent of a cup of good quality coffee - dark, stimulating and keeps you up all night.
50bookchallenge again this year. I started it a couple of years ago then ran out of steam mid-year. Maybe 2007 will be a good year for the nibblings of bookworms...Book #1:
An Accidental Goddess by Linnea Sinclair
I Rate it: 5.5/10
Category: Romance/Science Fiction-Fantasy
Raheiran Special Forces captain Gillaine Davré has just woken up in some unknown space way station, wondering where the last three hundred years have gone. The last thing she remembers is her ship being attacked. Now it seems that while she was time-traveling, she was ordained a goddess…. Gillaine’s only hope of survival rests with dangerously seductive Admiral Mack Makarian, who suspects her of being a smuggler—or worse.
I was a bit disappointed by this book - I thought it would be a science fiction novel with lashings of romance. It turned out to be a romance novel with lashings of science fiction. That misconception aside, the worldbuilding was really interesting. The female characters were more believable than the men (then again this was a romance novel!) but the characters were all engaging and not too 'superhuman'. Sadly I felt the ending was predictable. Which, OK, is what you want in a romance novel, but overall the book could have been so, so much better. I felt the author went for the safe and formulaic when it was very obvious she was capable of much more.
I bought another of this author's books at the same time, so it will be interesting to see if she follows the same pattern.
My take: Enjoyable enough Mind Candy, readable once but I doubt I'd bother twice. Borrow from a library, a friend or a book exchange, or buy it second hand. The book equivalent of a cup of hot tea - pleasant, but not terribly challenging.
Book #2:
Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs
I Rate it: 8.5/10
Category: Crime thriller
Dr. Tempe Brennan, a trowel-packing forensic anthropologist from North Carolina, works in Montreal's Laboratoire de Medecine Legale examining recovered bodies to help police solve missing-persons cases and murders. It's clear to Tempe that the remains of several women killed and savagely mutilated point to a sadistic serial killer, but she can't convince the police. Determined to prevent more brutal deaths, she sleuths solo, tracking her quarry through Montreal's seedy underworld of hookers.
I've conceived a dislike of first person narrative, so have a few problems reading it. But despite being narrated this way, I enjoyed Deja Dead. The story seemed very internally focused but this was offset by the book's atmosphere and the clarity of the descriptions of the environment. I couldn't totally relate to the main protagonist, Dr. Tempe Brennan, but despite suspecting she's as big a Mary Sue as Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta, grew to like her over the course of the book. There isn't a great deal of in-depth or friendly interaction with secondary characters, although her occasional lusting after a cute male was amusing. There was enough scientific explanation in the book to be interesting without becoming too academic, and the grisly parts likewise were unpleasant without being overly gross. The action is fast paced however, and by the end of the book I was sitting on the edge of my seat. This is the start of the series and I'm looking forward to seeing how the character and her life develop.
I'm also very keen on the TV series "Bones", which is based on Kathy Reichs and her books. Despite the fact the main character in both is Dr. Tempe Brennan, so far there is little in common between the book and the TV series except her job, and a certain lack of social adeptness on Tempe's part. Both are worth viewing however.
My take: A solid thriller, worth a reread. Easily found second hand or borrow from a library, a friend or a book exchange. The book equivalent of a cup of good quality coffee - dark, stimulating and keeps you up all night.
| |
2 / 50 (4.0%) |
