Insurgent- Veronica Roth

Spoilers for Divergent below!

The sequel to Divergent, Insurgent was every bit as engrossing and entertaining as its predecessor. Set in the same future world, the factions are now at war, with several of them having to choose sides throughout the book, and no clear line for many. Tris Prior, as the Divergent that stopped the hostile takeover of one of the factions, is now dealing with some serious PTSD, as well as the fallout from her choices in the previous book on her life and her relationship with Four (Tobias). Insurgent is very different from Divergent in several ways, much more about politics, secrecy, and war than a coming of age story, but even though it is different, it is still incredibly good.

I don’t know how much to go into here, because I think that if you’ve read Divergent you have an idea of what you’re in for, and I don’t want to spoil anything, but trust me, this is a good one. Roth is very good at keeping the reader engaged, with twists and turns that are occasionally predictable, but ultimately (relatively) satisfying. Unlike the other Hunger Games wannabes I’ve read in the last few years since my discovery of that book, this one is holding its own, and I have to admit that I’m impressed. Insurgent is one of the first books in awhile that I’ve been disappointed to finish, and I’m upset that I have to wait another year for the third book in the trilogy and to see where Roth goes from here!

4, but this is another one that is really close to a 5

Daughter of Smoke and Bone- Laini Taylor

My latest audio book was one of the rare books that I’ll listen to and then want to read, feeling that instead of enjoying the book as completely as I could in audio format, the best way to have encountered  this book would have been to read it. Notable other books that have made me want to read them, even after having listened to the whole story already: Unbroken and Ready Player One. It’s in good company.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is, at its most basic, a story about love, loss, and otherworldly creatures. Set in a human world, Karou is an art student who keeps company with both humans and the mysterious Brimstone, who has raised her from a baby, but is decidedly not human.  He is a monster, part of another world all together, and is in the midst of a raging battle, which we learn about piece by piece as the book unravels. Along with this war, we also discover the truth about Karou, her past, and her life, all of which has been a puzzle to her for the last seventeen years of her life.  

I do have to admit, this was a weird one. The Amazon description of this book barely hints at the depths at which it goes, and it expects a lot of suspension of reality. Not that it’s that difficult. In stark contrast to my last audio book, Shades of Grey, I bought into this world hook, line and sinker. This is the way it should be done.  I very much enjoyed Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and eagerly await its sequel!

4, but pretty close to a 5. I’ll have to reread this one for sure!

Jeneration X- Jen Lancaster

Jeneration X, Jen Lancaster’s latest, is a return to form after her disaster of a novel.  Nothing groundbreaking here, and in fact, I think I’ve actually read some of these stories before (on her blog? In her columns?), but I’m mostly ok with that, because I’m just so happy to be back to where we were before If You Were Here.  Let’s pretend that didn’t happen, ok?

Look, if you’ve read one of Jen’s memoirs, you know what you’re getting into with this one. My favorite remains Bright Lights, Big Ass, but I’m starting to think that it’s just because that’s the first one I read. Jen is hilarious, sarcastic, and an outstanding writer, but all of her memoirs are very similar, just with different themes to the collections of stories. Don’t get me wrong, I am absolutely not saying that’s a bad thing, because I look forward to reading her books and have read all of them (except for Pretty in Plaid) more than once. And I’m thrilled that her desire to write novels didn’t keep her from writing memoirs. I’m just saying that there’s not much for me to review here.

4- I went between a 4 and a 5 on this one. It’s entirely possible I’m going to end up buying it. Jen is funny and entertaining, and I read this in about two days, so obviously I really liked it. 

Crossed (Matched #2)- Ally Condie

Crossed, the second book in the Matched dystopian series, picks up where we left off, with Cassia off in search of Ky, Ky’s life in question in the Outer Providences, and with the beginnings of a rebellion against the dictatorial Society.

Like with Shades of Grey, one of the biggest issues is that I don’t buy into the main premise. Why would the Society force these things on people? None of it makes any sense. This shouldn’t surprise me though, because the Society is not the main plotline of the book. That is of course, the love triangle.  As with Matched, Crossed’s biggest focus is on the Ky-Xander-Cassia issue, instead of on the more interesting rebellion against the Society. This rubs me the wrong way, and is my biggest complaint about the series. It’s clearly geared towards the Twilight crowd, but with even less of an outside plot and not very interesting writing (Cassia and Ky love each other SO MUCH! But Cassia might also love Xander! But Ky and Cassia write and recite poems to each other! They love art! The Society doesn’t like it! These seem to be the things that the author most wants us to focus on). 

It is also really irritating how the author constantly refers to things that the reader doesn’t know about.  Instead of keeping me invested, like it does with most other books, it frustrates me. When half of the book keeps referring to “Xander’s secret” like it’s some life changing thing with the stupidest, most obvious explanation being a “big reveal,” I am not interested, I am annoyed.

Yet, here I am, finishing the book in mere days. I don’t understand how this happened.  

2- for some reason I still flew through this book, despite all the complaints. I still want to know where we’re going to end up in this series. Don’t ask me why because I don’t know. I think it’s because I am a sucker for any YA book about a dystopic future.  I’m still not in a hurry to read the next one though.  

Genghis: Lords of the Bow- Conn Iggulden

The second book in Conn Iggulden’s series about Genghis Kahn, Lords of the Bow details the war of the Mongol tribes against the Chin Empire. Picking up where the first book left off, Genghis marches on his enemies throughout the book and begins his total domination.

I loved the first book in this series. It really impressed and surprised me, and I couldn’t believe that I was enjoying a somewhat fictionalized book about a war leader so much.  In this one, Genghis has become someone to be feared rather than someone to root for, which is probably the biggest difference between this book and the first one.  It was still fascinating, but I wasn’t as engrossed as I was with the first one, when he was more of an underdog.  I feel like Iggulden wants me to get excited about the big battles, be invested in their outcome, and root for continuing dominance, but I would much rather read about the family and the politics. Those were by far the parts of the book I like the best. 

In the end, I still found myself rooting for Genghis and enjoying the story. Probably because of how despicable his enemies are as well. Among everyone, the least deplorable person turns out to be Genghis, even if he is brutal and generally terrifying.

3- didn’t like this one as much as the first, but still an enjoyable read. I’m definitely going to keep reading the series. 

Shades of Grey- Jasper Fforde

Set in a future world where people are classified by which (and how much) color they can see, Shades of Grey is a bizarre book about Eddie Russet, Red swatchman’s son and likely future prefect.  In general I didn’t really care for this one.  Throughout listening to the book (although the reader was very entertaining and excellent), thoughts kept popping into my head that prevented me from truly enjoying the story. 

Look, I can suspend reality like a champ. People living in fear of a tyrannical government that makes children fight to the death as a form of keeping rebellions at bay? People classified into factions based on a dominating personality trait? Wizards, witches, gods living among us? Done. For some reason with this one I couldn’t get past classifying people by how color blind they are. Why does that matter at all? Who gives a crap? If that was the only thing I would have had to accept as weird in the entire book, maybe I could have gotten past it. But in combination with things like spoon shortages (really? Is that supposed to be satirical? It makes no sense), colors fixing ailments and getting people high (sorry, what?), and night terrors (because they can’t see colors? Why?)? I just couldn’t. And that bothers me a little, but that’s how this went. Over and over. Instead of enjoying the book for what it was I kept catching myself questioning the author’s choices and not getting involved in the story or escaping into the book. It was all too convoluted and there was too much going on that I needed to just accept.  Maybe that’s the point. But I think what is meant to be satirical and funny only irritates me.

It did finally get me near the end, so not all of it is bad. I still had the same problems accepting a lot of what I was being told, but I did want to know what would happen, which remains the book’s saving grace, and the reason I gave it a two instead of a one. 

A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2) – George RR Martin

A Clash of Kings is the second book in the Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin, and is just as excellent (and long!) as the first one. Continuing the stories and character arcs set up in the first book, Game of Thrones, this portion of the series is focused on the struggle for power between the houses of Baratheon, Lannister, and Stark, while also keeping us up to date on how things are going for Dany Targaryen, the last of the past king’s line.

I think what I like so much about these books is that aside from a few obvious examples, I have no idea who I’m rooting for. There are rarely clear heroes and villains.  The case could be made that so far the good guys are the people in House Stark, while the bad guys are the Lannisters, but there are so many twists and turns that I can’t help but put bias aside and just enjoy where the book takes me. My favorite chapters throughout the book were from a Lannister point of view, which goes completely against what I just said about who I think the villains are. And that is what makes this so enjoyable.

This one’s a solid 4, although if I keep enjoying these books so much it could retrospectively become a 5, when I buy the whole series to read again!

Moneyball- Michael Lewis

Moneyball is about Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland A’s, a small money baseball team in a world where teams like the Yankees and the Red Sox buy championships. The story details strategy for winning with less money, drafting well, and, as the subtitle says, “the art of winning an unfair game.”

I was always going to like this one.  I’m an avid Reds fan, a team that hasn’t won a world series since 1990 and hadn’t made the playoffs in 15 years when they made it in 2010. Which gives me perspective on both small money baseball teams and teams that don’t win when they have big names (see: Ken Griffey Junior).  It is fascinating to read about Beane’s strategy in drafting new players, how he makes decisions based on stats, the fact that he would never keep a player that eats up half of his payroll. Which of course makes me nervous about the huge contracts that Votto and Phillips have just signed, but I digress.

Without getting into the extreme details of the book, I’ll just say that I really enjoyed the read. I loved thinking of how this applies to my favorite team and players in the game today.  I’m not totally sure I agree with everything that Beane lives by (specifically that he has no interest in defense- I don’t care how good your pitcher is, no one pitches perfect games every time out, you’ve got to have someone to field the ball and make outs!), but I will agree that he changed my mind a little bit, and definitely made me think a lot more about a sport that I love. 

4- definitely one I will read again. And even though it’s not my usual type of book (non-fiction and full of stats), I think I have to see what else Lewis has done.