Tag Archives: e-book

The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz (2017) – BR00177 (2020) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
January 18 2020

Plot or Premise

A fictionalized “true” story of the author observing a brilliant detective attempting to solve the murder of a woman who went to plan her funeral and was murdered the same day.

What I Liked

The premise of the story of the woman planning her funeral and then being murdered was a great Agatha Christie-style plot, more so than Sherlock Holmes. Yet the writing arrangement of Horowitz as Watson and Hawthrone as Holmes works reasonably well, even if Hawthorne is more prickly and flawed. Lots of different characters to meet. While I figured out several red herrings and had most of the clues assembled at the end, I didn’t quite interpret them the way the final answer is given.

What I Didn’t Like

There are three things in the story that bothered me. First and foremost, Horowitz has inserted himself as the narrator as if the premise is real. It’s a bit gimmicky, but if you ignore that, and treat it as if it was a fictionalized person, the premise works okay but not great. Yet, as a result, he pulls in various people he knows in real life, and, of course, they are treated with kid gloves. All positive words, meeting people like Spielberg for instance, so no chance he might be sued. Second, Horowitz or his fictionalized version is downright whiny. He complains about everything. He reads like a self-righteous child in many places. Third, there is a premise introduced very early on, and not only does it not play out the way it was described, the real explanation is done only through assumption and speculation. It didn’t feel like the book played fair with that clue or the character. Equally, the ending has a lot of exposition that implies “this is the only explanation” but there were several other equally plausible solutions.

The Bottom Line

Interesting premise, average mystery, soft ending.

Zap! by Martha Freeman (2018) – BR00175 (2020) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
January 11 2020

Plot or Premise

A blackout hits New Jersey and two kids try to figure out both how it happened and how to fix it.

What I Liked

The level is middle-grade and moves along at an okay pace. The cause of the blackout comes down to computers, and the solution is relatively straightforward without seeming too simplistic. Good interesting characters, for the most part.

What I Didn’t Like

There’s a plot hole in the solution — without revealing spoilers, the solution might fix homes and businesses but it wouldn’t have fixed the street lights, for instance — but it’s a small quibble. The real challenge is the level of exposition that is frequently dumped heavily into the story. Since they’re kids, they don’t know the “details” so everything they find out, they ask someone to explain it to them. At length. It really slows down the pace. The book tries to ramp it up a bit with a bit of suspense and violence, but they seem more amateurish than threatening.

The Bottom Line

Okay, but expect most middle-graders would find it slow.

Winterhouse by Ben Guterson (2018) – BR00174 (2020) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
January 11 2020

Plot or Premise

A young girl who lives with her aunt and uncle is sent under mysterious circumstances to a resort hotel for Christmas break.

What I Liked

The story has a bit of a Harry Potter-esque feel to it at the start — things happening that seem magical, parents dead, not very nice relatives, and leaving on an adventure. The resort hotel is called Winterhouse and is an amazing place to hang out for a vacation. There’s another kid like her who enjoys puzzles, and she meets a few interesting characters who either live at the hotel or are other guests. The magical elements are “just right” (not too much, not too little).

What I Didn’t Like

I chose it as it is an Edgar Award nominee, and it was a bit disappointing that there are two plot inconsistencies, almost like no one did a continuity edit on the book for point of view. At one point, Elizabeth doesn’t know anything about what’s going on or why her aunt and uncle have “sent” her to Winterhouse, but then she later reveals that she overheard her aunt and uncle talking about it the previous week and she knew everything there was to know (someone else paid them to send her). In another spot, two characters are revealed as the schemers, but another character knew all about her arrival and some of her backstory, yet didn’t know the biggest piece which is the only reason he would know anything about her at all. Finally, if you have ever read a male-centric story and felt like the woman had nothing to do but be a damsel in distress, you’ll feel the same way seeing the other kid be completely irrelevant to the story. He adds a bit of Fifth Busines background info, as do some puzzle guys, but pretty lame. I am not sure the constant word puzzles add anything to the story; they didn’t for me, but were easily tolerated.

The Bottom Line

An okay book, will likely read the next two in the trilogy.

The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness (2014) – BR00171 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
November 16 2019

Plot or Premise

After falling in love (book 1), and hiding in the past (book 2), Diana and Matthew return to the present to start a family and figure out what is in the Book of Life.

What I Liked

This third book recaptures some of the mystery from the first book and tackles head-on the issue of the lineage of demons, vampires and witches. Gone are the long, loving descriptions of places, and instead, there are multiple action scenes, broad moving parts across multiple continents, confrontations with the Congregation, and a reckoning for some wayward players. More importantly, you get to see Matthew and Diana weave all of it into a family. It even rectifies one of the glaring gaps from book 2 regarding a young boy named Jack.

What I Didn’t Like

The true villain of the trilogy is revealed, as is a hidden hero. But while the villain is vanquished, the hidden hero who is around for most of book 2 and is revealed in book 3 ends up disappearing near the end. It left a feeling of incompleteness, as did two other villains who are not really dealt with at all, except politically.

The Bottom Line

An action-packed but not completely satisfying ending

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness (2014) – BR00170 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
November 14 2019

Plot or Premise

A witch and a vampire hide out in 1590 Europe while she learns to control her powers.

What I Liked

After timewalking from present day, Diana has to learn to live in Elizabethan England, adapt to the customs of the day, and attempt to blend in. Lots of historical figures pop in and out, friends of Matthew in the “School of Night”, and she feasts on the living history. But it is only when she is at Sept-Tours that the book really brings the same sense of place that the first book did. She learns about the nature of her witch powers from a coven, and her family grows in size, including a nephew named Gallowglass.

What I Didn’t Like

The sense of place that was so common in each of the locales in the first book is not as vivid, except in Sept-Tours with Philippe (Matthew’s father). In addition, the book drags on and on in places with hardly anything happening relative to the mystery of magic, rather than just politics of the day, yet there are two fairly important events regarding children that are practically ignored as commonplace (with seemingly no emotional impact at all). There are also major happenings that happen elsewhere in time, and you only hear about them as throwaway news, including the death of a significant character.

The Bottom Line

A slow middle book with no ending.