Book Review: Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund

Book: Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund
Genre: YA Science Fiction
Rating:★★★☆☆
For: Review
From: Edelweiss

I was so looking forward to this book having loved the first book, For Darkness Shows the Stars, so so much last year.

But while this one had essentially the same feel as the first one, it just wasn't quite the same for me! And I know I'm going to have a hard time putting my finger on just exactly why. Maybe it was just one of those mood things, and if so, dang, that's frustrating!

Anyway, this particular tale takes place in the same world as the first one, the world full of characters dealing with the consequences of the mistakes their ancestors made when they tried to create a superhuman race. This ended up causing havoc on the gene pool and instead, created people born with major mental issues, which they call Reduced. At first, I thought perhaps this story took place years and years after the first one, but later on we find out that no, it's only shortly after, but in a different part of the world.

In fact, the setting is in what we know as Hawaii... I think. Or some other nearby Polynesian island. There are two islands, who have quite the major conflict with each other. (And I'm not sure I understood what the conflict is, which is partly why I had a hard time with this book, much of the plot details were lost on me.) Our main character has taken it upon herself to free certain people (the Reduced, or the people like them who have taken a drug to cure the problem which has now backfired) and she calls herself the Wild Poppy.

Yes, this book is a retailing of The Scarlet Pimpernel, just as the first one was a retelling of Persuasion.

And yes, we can see all the fun similarities, complete with all the fun differences too. That's what I like about these books. The obvious retelling and yet the unique take on it too. It's awesome.

My problem with this one was that the plot was much too complicated for me and I felt the characters got lost in that. You know I'm a character person! And I'd much rather have lots of interaction between them than lots and lots of parts that exists just to explain the complication of the plot.

And these characters were pretty cool. Our Wild Poppy spy had some pretty nifty gadgets and technology going for her. And the guy she wanted to love, but couldn't because she thought he was for the other side, was pretty cool too, yet, we just didn't get to know him well enough. I needed more!

Also for much of the book I was wondering if Kai and Elliot from the first book would show up. To answer this question for you, I would just say..... keep reading!

Bottom line: I totally love the style, setting and take on this retelling, however, the plot details bogged me down. And like I said above, this could have just been my "unable to focus" mood this past week!

Other Reviews:

And I'm all for a science-filled background and plot, but biology (especially genetics) is not my strong point, and there was some stuff that just went over my head and I had to skim through it. If you're interested in that kind of research, I think you'd really enjoy this book. From City of Books

The ending provides much tension, but up until that it's just a really interesting, well-paced story that I really enjoyed. From Annette's Book Spot

To me, the strongest parts of Across a Star-Swept Sea were these moments when characters had to take moral stands, to come to terms with their historical or personal culpability in a situation and figure out what to do. From YA Romantics

There wasn’t a moment I didn’t like it, I never got bored and I enjoyed every part of it. From The Reader Lines

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Was "Forced" to Read!

The word forced is truly in quotes as I've never in my life felt at all forced to read something. The word forced and read just don't go together in my brain. I know some people feel very much differently, but that's how it is with me!

With that being said, here's a list of some books off the top of my head where I had some pretty good encouragement and incentive to read them! I could go on and on, but I think I already hit the ten book limit here!

Ten (SOME?) Books I was "Forced" to Read

"Forced" by a book club or group:

The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy: read by an online group years ago
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett: read by an online group years ago

"Forced" by a read along:

Under the Dome by Stephen King: a read along I did with Jenny a year or so ago
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson: a read along I did with Ibeeeg awhile back
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russel: a read along I did with Florinda and Heather
Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel: read along with Jessica

"Forced" by another reader:

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz: encouragement by Jenny!
The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy: encouragement by Ibeeeg!

"Forced" to read at school:

Tess of the D'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy: which started my Thomas Hardy love affair
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: which brings back lovely memories of the movie we watched
The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens: in which I didn't understand a thing but loved it anyway!

What book would be on your list today? Link up over at The Broke and the Bookish!

Concert Review: Josh Groban

On Friday evening, I went to see Josh Groban in concert.... again.... for the third time. I will never get sick of the experience. It's truly an amazing thing to watch and listen to him sing. Amazing.

The different thing about this show was that is was "in the round" as you can see from the picture below. Now, while that seems really cool, I must say that I don't think our floor seats were as good as the seats up in the bowl this time. That was a bit disappointing. I mean, it was AWESOME when he came to our end (yes, we were on the end) but when he didn't, we could hardly see him. And did he come to our end very much? NO! Dang it! But when he did come, it was heaven. I mean, he was just RIGHT THERE singing! Loved it, loved it.

Our experience generally was quite the same as last time, just a couple of years ago. (The full account of that concert can be found here.) I went with my sister Megs (from Sweet and Sour Sassiness, though dang it, she hardly blogs!) who is even more of a fanatic fan than I am! We managed to find will call and got our tickets without stress and then we waited to be let in...which was about 20 or so minutes later.

Once we found our seats, 7th row on the floor, we climbed back up and out and spent a good 45 minutes in the merchandise line while Megan stressed about what to buy. I didn't buy anything as I was already wearing my merchandise which my work friend gave me last Christmas! Awesome! 

Then we came back to our seats and waited some more. The opening act was Judith Hill and she wasn't bad, I enjoyed most of her songs and they made me want to dance. 

Then we waited. Some more. During that time, I think it was when the two people sitting in the seats right in front of us finally came and sat down. See picture below. We laugh/cried about that for a good couple of minutes. Seriously?

Finally! The show begins with the violinist in the crowd on one side, and the trumpet player in the crowd on the other side! Then Josh runs in from back stage and starts singing Brave! 

And then, and then... he sang... all sorts of other things! Um, yes, I was going to remember them all, but now I can't. Several from his new album of course, but not Hollow Talk which we wanted so so bad. She Ran Through the Fair was beautiful and I can tell by the way he talks about this one that he absolutely loves it and that it makes him feel all romantic-y. I loved that he sang several songs from his very first album like Vincent (was that the first or second, I don't know) and To Where You Are. Of course he sang the few that he will ALWAYS sing at concerts.... You Raise Me Up, Remember When It Rained and Alla Luce, which is pretty much my favorite one. And then, his final finale.... Smile. 

Ah, and then it was sadness. I hate that feeling when it's over. We stood around and gawked at the stage until the security guy got nervous (as if we'd run up on it or something) and came and stood there. Then, we decided to go ahead and be true fan girls like last time and find where he would come out, just in case he'd do some fan greetin'. 

While waiting there, the violinist (I think the piano guy came too, but he didn't stick around for the whole line) came out and worked the line and was so sweet and nice to say hi and take pictures with everyone. Dang, he was a cutie and so very hot on the violin too! So that was fun.

And then, and then, and then... Josh came out! But... we were at the very back of the line and we realized that he was only going to go at the front were people could crowd up along the barrier there, so we left our spot and crowded up too. And my camera started being weird, but my sister managed a picture with her phone. So, that was cool, even though we weren't close enough for an actual true encounter or to get something signed... but still, he was just RIGHT THERE! :) Sigh.

And then we went home. Now, we'll wait for another couple of years, and yep.... do it again! One of these years we'll be front row, for a normal stage, so he'll be RIGHT THERE singing to us the whole time! I want to be in the spit zone!

In the Round!

The view from our seats.

Posing in my hoodie.

When the people came, here's our new view.

I love this singing stance of his.

The cool guitar player whose name I can't spell!

The trumpeter and violinist!

Love how this picture turned out.

Some singing emotion!

Josh's footprints on the stage!

With my sister and the violinist, Christian.
He is one tall dude!

Our close encounter, sort of.

And now, a little montage of some of the songs I captured on video, for what it's worth:

Readathon Updates and Challenges!

Happy Readathon everyone! I'll be putting all my readathon "stuff" here on this one post throughout the day today, with the newest update/thing/challenge/whatever at the top. It's going to be interesting attempt today! So here goes nothin'!

UPDATE HOUR... 16 I think!

So I went to Jenny's reception and did not read:

Jenny and Guy

A hot chocolate bar!

Handwritten quotes on all sorts of mugs!

But since being back, so far I've managed to get to 63% on Across a Star Swept Sea... and then I had to take another break because I just couldn't focus. I wish I could just relax, but I'm a little keyed up. And I don't feel much like reading. Bummer to suddenly not be in a mood to read while the readathon is still in full swing, you know!?

But, I'm going to give it another go now.

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BEST OF MINI CHALLENGE from Lisa's World of Books

Best Romance Book of Your Reading Year: Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson

Best YA Book of Your Reading Year: Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi

Best Non-Fiction Book of Your Reading Year: The World's Strongest Librarian by Josh Hanagarne

Best Sci-Fi Book of Your Reading Year: Fragments by DanWells

Best Fantasy Book of Your Reading Year: Poison Study by Maria V. Synder

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MID-EVENT SURVEY

1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired? I am sleepy but my eyes are fine since I haven't really been reading that much!

2) What have you finished reading? NOTHING! I have read 15 more % in Across a Star Swept Sea (this book is not as good as For Darkness Shows the Stars, dang it) and I read 11% in Tinkers, which turns out to not be a very good book for the readathon. BUT my daughter is almost done with I Am Not a Serial Killer, so that's cool.

3) What is your favorite read so far? Nothing is a favorite so far. Maybe I need to try something completely and totally different and very very easy...

4) What about your favorite snacks? We had homemade mac and cheese, and lots of caramel popcorn, and soon I'm going to be having wedding reception treats! That's enough food for now I'd say. 

5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love! I haven't yet, but I plan to get to that later tonight. I hope. Man, why does the day have to fly by so fast!? I hate that.
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UPDATE ONE

What I’m reading now: Across a Star Swept Sea

How many page read since last update: 12 %

How many pages read total: 12 %

Books finished since last update: no finished books yet

How many minutes/hours read since last update: I've probably only read an hour total! FAIL!

What we are listening to: Hans Zimmer Pandora Station

What we are eating: just had some waffles!

Distractions: sleepy, breakfast, shower, family, many many things

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INTRO MEME


1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? UTAH!

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? I'm looking forward to finishing Across the Star Swept Sea. I'm starting at about 20% into it, so here's hoping I can finish it and move on to even more books!

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? Caramel Popcorn, which has turned into a readathon tradition around here. However, I didn't have time to make it yesterday, so we'll see if it even happens!

4) Tell us a little something about yourself! So, I went to the Josh Groban concert last night! I stood in the fangirl line afterwards and met his violinist and then got a good glimpse at Josh himself, but didn't "meet" him or get him to sign anything. Then I slept over at my mom's house so I could take my sister to the airport this morning and I have just returned home form all that adventure. We got about four hours of sleep, but I heard the freaking clock chime every single one of those hours, so... not sure if I even slept at all. So, this readathon should be interesting!

A picture from last night that I had to share:

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to? It's been awhile since I've been able to participate, and so I'm looking forward to it! I won't do anything very different since I know not to stress about any of it and just have fun doing whatever feels right! 

Happy reading everyone! I'll be here all day!

Doing Dewey's Readathon

I think it's probably been awhile since I participated in the readathon. So maybe I'll try again this Saturday. Yes, I signed up, but we'll see how much I actually sit and read. Not sure how this day will turn out!

For one thing, it's Jenny's wedding that night!! Wahoo! So I'll be going to that for sure and hopefully I'll snap a few pictures for you, because I'm guessing there's a few of you who just might be interested!

Another thing, I'll be up late Friday night (Josh's concert!) and up early Saturday morning to take my sister back to the airport, the sister who has come to town to go to the concert with me! So... it could be that I'll be already running on fumes that day.

But, I hope to read. Let's just say that! And what I hope to read I've already mentioned in my monthly wrap up post as plans for October. I guess I'm not veering from that plan for the readathon since so many of my books have deadlines this month!

So... what I hope to work on for Saturday is:

Tinkers by Paul Harding... he's coming to the library on Tuesday so I wanted to have his book read, or at least started. It's a tiny little thing, so it would be perfect for the readathon, assuming that's it's also easy reading, which I'm not so sure about yet. It's a Pulitzer Prize winner, which could either be a good thing or a bad thing!

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte.... this is for book club which is next Thursday. It would be a re-read for me, but it's been long enough since I read it that I don't remember a thing, so I really should try to re-read it for book club so I know what's going on! It's a tiny thing too, but I'm guessing not really that easy of reading.

Also, if I haven't finished them in the next couple of days, I need to finish Fiesta of Smoke for a blog tour and Across a Star-swept Sea for reviewing next week, as it comes out then. I've made good progress on both, so maybe my Saturday will simply be finishing them up!

But... if I could read ANYTHING I'd add these to my pile:

-- Days of Blood and Starlight
-- And the Mountains Echoed
-- The 5th Wave
-- The Vampire Lestat

Oh, well. We'll see how it goes. Will you be joining the party? Get all the details here!

Movie Review: Gravity

Movie: Gravity
Genre: Drama (in space,but not science fiction)
Starring: Sandra Bullock and George Clooney
Rating: PG13
My Rating: Two thumbs up!!

I didn't know much about this movie going in, only that it was supposed to be good and cool and different. And somehow, we just sort of on the spur of the moment ended up going opening weekend. Love it when that happens!

I also heard it was supposed to be especially good in 3D, so since I'm okay with 3D,  3D it was!

And then it started. I could instantly tell this was not going to be your ordinary movie. The opening shot and sequence was breath taking. Ah, there are no words to describe the experience of watching this movie! Basically, you feel like you are flying out there in space!

The plot is very simple. There's a crew on the a shuttle doing their routine mission in space, including a space walk to fix some equipment. Far far away from them, a satellite is hit by space debris and breaks up, and before we know it, that debris is headed right for these guys! When it hits them, many many bad things happen. The rest of the movie is one of these characters trying to survive the experience, and it's so intense! It's one of those movies were bad things happen one after another after another!

You'll find yourself biting your fingernails, sliding off your seat onto the floor, hiding in your neighbors lap (whether you know them or not!) gasping out loud a few times, and many many bouts of literally holding your breath! Yeah, don't forget to breathe now and then!

The special effects and sound (or lack of sound which is even more impressive sometimes) are amazing! And the film work, I don't even know how they did it!! We are spinning and floating almost constantly, right along with the characters, yet somehow, this did not make me dizzy, so don't freak about that! (And I'm prone to motion sickness.)

The entire movie is in space, and there is NO GRAVITY whatsoever! Well, yeah, you'll get it. It's awesome.

The music is fabulous too by the way... very haunting and creepy in parts, very inspirational in others. Here's one of my favorites so far:


And Sandra Bullock? Amazing! Awesome! Crazy good!

Bottom line: Oh my word, I loved it. People say it's even better on the IMAX and I would love to see it again on that screen. Anyone want to go with me? I love this stuff. I really do. Let me know if you see it and what you think.

Here's the trailer:

Book Review: Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

Book: Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
Genre: YA Science Fiction
Rating:★★★★☆
For: Blog Tour and Support Local Authors
From: ARC provided by Literary Lushes ARC Tours

David lives in a world where there's been an event (they call it Calamity) where some people are suddenly being born with super powers. The strange and terrible thing is that those people are using their powers to cause havoc and chaos in the country. The powers have turned them evil in a big big way.

When David was little, he was a witness to an event at a bank where one of these guys (they call them Epics) swooped down and killed everyone at the bank (including David's father) and then proceeded to take over the city of Chicago (now known as Newcago).

Two things happened though... he (Steelheart is his name) didn't know that David was left alive, and he also didn't know that David got a glimpse of his weakness.

Because yes, all these Epics have a weakness and if you can figure out what that is, you can kill them.  And there's a group of regular humans who have set out to do just that, called the Reckoners. It's David's life long quest to become part of that group and seek revenge for his father's death and kill Steelheart.

And wow! What an adventure this becomes! This is an awesome urban fantasy/ science fiction tale complete with cool high tech gadgets, guns of all sorts, crazy super powers, a crumbling world and some really really bad guys! Some awesome good guys too! These are great characters!

There's lots of edge of your seat battle scenes, getaways, car chases, and breathless hiding moments. It really is quite awesome.  Not only that, the conclusion is fabulous with some really great twists and surprises thrown in.

I only downgraded it to four stars because for me, there was much too much gun talk here. Boring guns! Other than that, the rest was anything but boring! (In fact yes, there's quite a bit of violence so beware if you are leery of that!)

Bottom line: If you are in the mood for a rip roaring ride in a dark apocalyptic world, you'll love this one just like I did!

Other Reviews:

I loved the plot, which keeps things rolling, but throws several curveballs into the seemingly perfect plan and has enough breathing room for the characters to question what they are doing and why. From In Bed With Books

What Steelheart lacks in polish and initial impact it more than makes up for in terms of energy and affection. From The Speculative Scotsman

The book starts off with a bang and does not let up until the very last page. It’s seriously amazing. From Book Twirps Book Reviews

Ultimately, Steelheart manages to be both a fun read and a serious one. I have always had a huge thing for villains in fiction, – so for me, reading this was like eating ice cream. From My Shelf Confessions

I particularly recommend it to fans of superhero fiction, especially the darker, less heroic kind. From Tsana's Reads and Reviews