Review: THE CITY OF EMBER by Jeanne DuPrau

Rating: 5/5 stars

This is an older book that has been rather popular, but I never decided to read it until now. I've seen the movie before, so I already knew the story, but I wanted to give the book a chance, too. I am so happy I did because this book was awesome!

The City of Ember is a steampunk adventure story following Lina and Doon, two kids who live in Ember, a city of complete darkness except for the street lights powered by the generator. But Ember wasn't built to last as long as it has; the lights are beginning to go out for minutes at a time, and the generator needs constant repair. Everything in the city is broken and worn, and resources are nearly gone. Despite their circumstances, Lina and Doon are on the edge of hope that Ember is not the only source of life in the world, that another city lies beyond the blackness. One day they discover an ancient note, and as they attempt to decipher its message together, they begin to wonder if there really is more beyond Ember than darkness.

Something I really appreciated about this book was that Lina and Doon faced real problems on their journey, situations that actually had me wondering how they were going to proceed next. I think if this would have been a superficial young adult story where an issue surfaces and then magically resolves itself (which I've seen happen way too often before), I would have been so disappointed. But in The City of Ember, Lina and Doon really had to work through their struggles to reach a solution. (The scene where they discovered how candles work was my favourite. And that ending!) This book truly has a thoroughly crafted plot in a completely unique world. I was enraptured with DuPrau's storytelling.

I was left with a few questions that I hope will get answered later on in the series. First of all is why the Builders built the city of Ember in the first place and made people move underground to live there. We get a snippet of information about this, but not enough yet to be satisfactory. Second is how they managed to convince people it was necessary to move underground where they would never see the sun or trees again (because the first residents of Ember would have come from our world). I'm basically just interested in how the whole thing started and how they managed to build Ember. I'm very excited to read the rest of the series. Unlike this book, I know nothing about the next three books, but I'm sure the story will be just as exciting and the world-building just as rich.

Sidenote about the audiobook: This audiobook was amazing. There were sound effects all throughout the story. For example, whenever Lina or Doon was near the river, I would hear rushing water in the background. There were also sounds like scraping metal, cheering crowds, and chirping bugs. It was a phenomenal addition to the story that really had me engrossed in what was happening. I think all audiobooks should incorporate sound effects like these.

Review: THE HOUSE AT 758 by Kathryn Berla

Rating: 3.5/5

This book features a coming-of-age story about Krista, whose mother recently died. She hasn't yet gotten over the death and is still burdened with grief every day. Krista deals with her grief by periodically visiting a house, the house at 758, which has a significant meaning to her. We spend half of the story trying to piece together the mystery surrounding that house and its inhabitants, although I guessed rather early on what her reasons were for continually going there. In the latter half of the story, we learn about Krista's grandfather, who has come to stay with her for a short time, and his years spent in camps during the Holocaust. We hear stories from his life, so although this is a contemporary book, there are bits and pieces of powerful 1940s historical fiction.

Krista's grandpa's story is more than just a war narrative, though: it's a passionate story focused on the time we have left on this earth and making the most of that time. That is ultimately what the whole book is about, and the grandpa's stories tie very well into that.

The main emphasis of this story is the importance of family. Although there is a mild romance in this contemporary novel, it is like the third or forth sub-plot, which I found to be refreshing. The romance was the only part that I found to be slightly unrealistic. It moved a little too fast, probably so it could fit into the short book, but I did appreciate that it remained a clean romance.

The House at 758 is a simple story, calm and relaxing, but powerful. It's about how one small moment in someone's life can make a lifelong impact in someone else's life. These important messages are delivered through Berla's lyrical prose that was easy to enjoy. Although a shorter read, this book doesn't lack in characterization or depth, for the most part.

I really like Krista as a protagonist, and I'm going to miss reading from her perspective now that the book is over. I related a lot to her, and it was comforting to read about her and her life.

"Hate doesn’t hurt the hated person . . . it only hurts the person who hates.”

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

Review: DISNEY AT DAWN by Ridley Pearson

Rating: 2/5 stars

I feel like this series as a whole had a lot of potential with its premise, but Ridley Pearson didn't capitalize on that potential. We hardly see any Disney characters in either this book or the first one. The only character who shows up is Maleficent, who happens to be the main villain in both books. Why are we not seeing more (and different) Disney characters? In book one, the kids briefly see Pooh and Piglet, and Chip and Dale. Why are they not seeing any more characters at the park (that is supposedly filled with Disney characters) or while being DHIs? Why are there not more villains working with Maleficent or who make appearances? I guess we get a short, silent cameo from Chernabog at the end, but does that even count? Is he even a real villain? What happened to the iconic Disney characters that I expected to fill these pages?

I'm just very disappointed with the direction this series went. It had the ability to be a great series about the Disney characters, but instead, we got a series about the six kids, and it just happens to take place in Disney World. I think they could have had the same kinds of adventures anywhere, and it wouldn't be that hard to make this story unrelated to Disney.

There were a plethora of inconsistencies in this book, and they completely disrupted my reading experience. I'm going to describe a few of them, which might include very minor spoilers ahead. The biggest inconsistency was that the point of view changes from character to character within the same chapter, even though it's supposed to be a third-person limited perspective to one character at a time. This happened throughout the entire book, and it was very irritating.

The characterization was inconsistent as well. Jez became Jess at the end of book one, but book two starts with her as Jez again? Why did this happen? No one knows, as no explanation is ever offered for it. There is also a quotation that said, "Maybeck always called Finn by his last name." Since when? Did this happen all throughout book one, too, or am I missing something?

Finn's phone rings while he is in the theatre (the only time it ever rings in the book), and we never find out who called (probably his parents). He doesn't ever call his parents though, and that seemed unrealistic. Wouldn't they be calling more? Later on, he addresses that he should call them, but it felt like a last-ditch effort to include parents in a book about fourteen-year-olds because he never actually calls them.

In a scene toward the end of the book, Philby says multiple times that he "can open the hatches." Plural. More than one hatch. But a few chapters later, Finn is wondering who opened the second hatch? Uh, Philby did. We already covered that. It is these small details being inconsistent and wrong that makes me the most frustrated with the series. There are so many examples in this book of poor editing, and that is just one of them.

Another poor editing example is this quotation: " 'The black door!' Maybeck called out calmly." Tell me how you calmly exclaim something (see that exclamation point?) when you're in a predicament and fighting for your life. That doesn't happen. Even the tiniest of details like that were getting on my nerves in this book.

Here's another one: "Two of the tigers and several of the monkeys and apes had been holograms. No wonder his blows with the stick hadn't done much." There's a big difference between not doing much damage with the stick, and the stick going right through the being because it doesn't exist. In this case, Finn should have been able to figure out the animals were DHIs way before they vanished.

I also saw quite a few textual editing errors and visual spacing errors in this book. That, combined with the times the author contradicts himself with inconsistencies and the constant repetition of details throughout the story (it's like he thinks I've forgotten what he wrote only five pages ago), has me wondering how this book managed to be published at all.

One thing I did like about this book was that the kids were in the Animal Kingdom instead of in the Magical Kingdom like book one. Switching to different parks every book adds some variety, and it's nice that they go to a new park every book throughout the series (from my understanding). However, I thought only the Magic Kingdom was wired for DHI projection. Did they change this technical roadblock in a matter of a few months? There is also no explanation as to how or why the kids can cross over and become DHIs while being awake, but it felt too easy and convenient for the plot, like the reasoning didn't matter as long as the could become DHIs to solve all their mortal problems.

I enjoyed book one, and I finished book two, but I will not be reading any more books in this series. I think my ultimate problem is that I don't like Pearson's writing style. I read a detailed and spoilery synopsis for books three and four, and my eyes about rolled out of my head. The same exact kinds of predicaments and revelations happen in every book. It honestly felt to me like the story repeats itself every book, but the kids are in a new location each time. I'm just not really interested in reading about these kids and their antics anymore.

Review: DISNEY AFTER DARK by Ridley Pearson

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

This book pleasantly surprised me. I didn't initially want to read it, but a friend lent me her copy and asked me to read it, so I did.

This story follows Finn and four other kids as they are selected to be Disney Host Interactives (DHIs) for the Magic Kingdom in Disney World. One night, Finn winds up in Disney World in the middle of the night, but he isn't dreaming. He was transported there, along with the other DHIs, and together they must stop the Overtakers (A.K.A. Disney villains) from gaining control of Disney World.

I actually really enjoyed this book, but I just felt a little too old for it. I think if I were in middle school, or even high school, this story would have been an even more amazing story to me. The biggest problem I had with the book was that some details were over-explained when they seemed obvious to me. For example, there was a detail brought up early in the book (this happened more than once), and I thought it was an established fact at that point. But then that detail kept being brought up and clues were dropped about it until a big reveal later on in the book, but I had already guessed what was going to happen at the first mention of that detail. One example of this is [SPOILER: that Jez was working with Maleficent. I thought that was obvious during the car wash scene, but there was still a big reveal about it at the end of the book.]

Contrary to this, there were other details I kept waiting to read about again, thinking that they were important facts that would pertain to the story, but these details never resurfaced. An example of this is [SPOILER: that all five kids were from different schools. I thought one of them would say something about this fact, how it made it harder for them to get in contact with each other. That maybe that was the Overtakers' plan all along, that they weren't supposed to get together to solve the mystery, or something like that. But this bit of information wasn't brought up again.] I was just a little bit bothered by events happening this way, and to me, it felt like that created minor plot holes. Thankfully, this didn't detract too much from the overall enjoyment of the book.

I love that the parents were a part of the story. At thirteen years of age, of course your parents are going to start asking questions if you wake up in dirty clothes and it looks like you've been sneaking out at night. The concerned parents added a more realistic element to the story that I appreciated.

Despite my enjoyment of this book, I am at a disadvantage in reading it because I know very little about Disney. I have been to Disney World once before when I was five, but I do not remember much at all. I also haven't seen very many classic Disney movies, so I am not in a position to say how accurate the setting in the story was, although I would like to know anyway.

Overall, this book's plot and setting were highly original and enjoyable to read about. I do wish we got to see more of the "good" characters after dark instead of just the villains, though, but maybe they will come in a later book. I do plan to continue on with the series, and I hope that it only gets better.

Review: REINCARNATION BLUES by Michael Poore

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Reincarnation Blues had me hooked when I first heard the premise that Milo is an ancient soul that has lived 9,995 lives, each time hoping only to meet Death (A.K.A. Suzie) each time he dies. Milo is in love with Suzie, and this is what is preventing him from reaching Perfection, for fear he won't be able to ever see Suzie again. But Milo has only five more lives - five more opportunities to reach Perfection - until he becomes Nothingness.

The best part about this book is that it really is a combination of all genres mixed together: historical fiction, science fiction, contemporary, fantasy, dystopian. Milo lives in all different periods of time, including during 2600 B.C., in many futuristic colonies in space, in the current day, and in the "afterlife."

Reading this book is kind of like reading a bunch of short stories that take place in multiple time periods and locations but are all about the same person, Milo. Because of this, most stories recounting one of Milo's lives don't go very far in depth and therefore have more "telling" than "showing." But the stories are interesting nonetheless. This book goes in depth in detail for the last five lives that Milo lives, and the shorter snippets are told in between those five lives.

The story is told in a third-person omniscient perspective. It's interesting though because sometimes the story will be in the future tense, and sometimes the POV will be that of a shark, or a dog, or a whale.

Reincarnation Blues is a highly original, eccentric book that's full of magical realism. Poore's writing can be very poetic at times, which just adds to the beauty of the story. I highly recommend this book.

Milo had squeezed so much learning and experience into his one, single soul that the knowledge had grown pressurized and hot and transformed into wisdom the way coal changes into diamonds. His wisdom was like a superpower.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review. 

Review: MAN'S SEARCH FOR MEANING by Viktor E. Frankl

Rating: 2/5 stars

The first part of this book, Frankl's autobiographical account of being in the prisoner of war camps during World War Two, was enlightening to read. I have not read many true accounts of concentration camps, but that doesn't make the horrors that happened there any less real. Even though this part of the book was interesting, I found it hard to read, as in I didn't really have the desire to pick it up and continue reading. When I got to part two about logotherapy, I found myself reading this part much more quickly. I actually enjoyed reading about logotherapy more than I enjoyed reading about the camps (this seems to be an unpopular opinion, as I've read from others that part two was boring and hard to get through).

I originally thought Man's Search for Meaning would be a philosophical discussion about how to find and attain purpose in one's own life. I didn't realize it would include an autobiographical section about World War Two, although that account and the stories within add great depth to the philosophical discussion that did follow in part two. Frankl taught how to find meaning when it seems that there is nothing left to live for and all hope is lost. This book would have been less impactful had his story not been included.

The reason I gave this book two stars is primarily because I struggled to want to read it. In my rating system, all books start out at three stars and either gain or lose stars based on my interest level and engagement in the book. I think it is wrong to rate someone's personal experiences, and therefore my rating does not in any way invalidate Frankl's experiences that he wrote about; it is merely a reflection of my personal interest while reading his book. I do want to say, though, that I think this was a meaningful and powerful book that many will benefit from.

Review: GOODBYE, THINGS by Fumio Sasaki

Rating: 3/5 stars

If you know me, you know I've been into minimalism for a little over a year now. In that time, I've been trying to read many books about minimalism to gain different perspectives on it. Goodbye, Things offers the perspective that minimalism is living with the bare minimum possible to sustain your life. According to Sasaki's philosophy, I am not a minimalist. I am just "living simply."

I appreciate that he has his own opinions and views about minimalism, but I disagree with him; to me, minimalism is living with the bare minimum to be happy. Yes, I own 400+ books, and yes, I still consider myself to be a minimalist. Why? Because books bring me so much joy. I couldn't imagine walking in the door every day and seeing a blank wall in my living room instead of my three full bookcases. Each book is something that makes me happy, and so I keep them. Could I get rid of them to be more of a minimalist? Of course. But I don't want to. As I've said before, everyone has their own definition of minimalism, and that's okay. Fumio Sasaki's definition includes not owning a bed but instead using a fold-up "airy" mattress, and owning only eight clothing items. That seems a little extreme to me, like a step beyond minimalism. My bed is my number one necessary item.

At one point Sasaki says, "I think the ideal minimalist is someone who can give a rundown of every item that they own." I mostly disagree with this statement. I could tell you what kinds of items are in every drawer and cupboard in my home, but I'm not going to list for you every book I own or every item in my pantry, nor will I describe every shirt in my closet. I don't think being able to do that necessary qualifies someone for being a minimalist.

I appreciate Sasaki's story of his own transformation from a maximalist (I love that terminology) to a minimalist, and I am glad he included photos in the beginning of the book of his journey. It is very enlightening to hear others' stories of their transition to less.

Review: WHY WE SLEEP by Matthew Walker

Rating: 4/5 stars

In the beginning, the author made claims that seemed to have no medically researched background, such as, "Routinely sleeping less than six or seven hours a night demolishes your immune system, more than doubling your risk of cancer," and "A lack of sleep can kill you outright." I was worried the whole book would be written like this, that the author would expect me to believe his claims without evidence, but it was only the first chapter that left me skeptical. The rest of the book was actually well organized, and Walker's claims were backed up by the results of decades worth of research and studies. I slowly became impressed at the amount of evidence that went into each chapter of this book.

Why We Sleep is written in a witty and light banter that's easy to understand and engage with. It was such a relief to read a nonfiction book that actually feels like the author was telling me a story instead of quoting a textbook. Matthew Walker uses many analogies to explain concepts that may be difficult to the average reader (like me) who is not familiar with the scientific and medical terminology. For the most part, the explanations are easy to understand and enjoyable to read about.

There were a few parts that became mundane and started sounding like a university essay. One example was when the author started talking about biological concepts involving the evolution of sleep in different species of animals since the beginning of time. I think that part was too technical and unnecessarily long for this book. Other than those few parts, this book was a pleasurable and highly informative read.

This book talks about not only why we sleep (as the name suggests), but also the effects of different amounts of sleep on a person, and especially how a lack of sleep can affect someone over time. I learned about the problems of mixing caffeine and technology with sleep, what sleeping pills actually do for you, how the brain functions while sleeping, how sleep revives our minds, and everything I ever wanted to know about dreams. I honestly was shocked to learn just how important sleep is for every aspect of our well-being, and I will definitely be making a better effort to get at least eight hours of sleep every night after reading this book. As Walker says, "That humans can never 'sleep back' that which we have previously lost is one of the most important take-homes of this book."

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ebook in exchange for an honest review.