Tag Archives: paperback

Weather and Space by Helen Young and Chris Oxlade (2010) – BR00219 (2022) – 🐸🐸⚪⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
November 12 2022

Plot or Premise

Part of an Interactive Explorer series, this book is aimed at kids, and includes flaps, pull tabs, wheels and acetates. The book is divided into two, with Section 1 aimed at the weather. It covers weather extremes, changing climate, floods, droughts, winds, big storms, thunder and hail, and extreme snow.

What I Liked

I was mainly reviewing the text to see what they shared about space in Section 2 for younger grades. Overall, it covers the night sky, star maps, suns and stars, the life of a star, constellations, galaxies, planets, the moon, smaller bodies, and exploring space. All are good topics for those new to space.

What I Didn’t Like

The added features seem out of place in the book — the text is written for middle-school level or a bit below who would find the features childish, while the “features” are more suited to early grades who wouldn’t understand the text. For the space section, the order makes no sense. We start off with big areas, come into the sun, back out to stars and DSOs, back down to the solar system moon, and back out to small bodies.

The Bottom Line

Poor design and odd choice of organization for the space section

Dance for the Dead by Thomas Perry (1996) – BR00194 (2021) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
June 10 2021

Plot or Premise

Jane Whitefield is back and trying to guide an 8-year-old boy with an inheritance and a 30-year-old woman with stolen bank money to a safe haven.

What I Liked

The methodology for how Jane helps everyone is quite good, and reads both simple and plausible, a veneer of realism that sells the stories. The explanations for both cases are relatively clear, you understand the motives and why someone is coming after the two of them. Most of the story is a cat and mouse world, and it works well.

What I Didn’t Like

The two stories seem unconnected at the beginning but it is blindingly obvious that they will eventually connect, even if it is a connection told in reverse (i.e., if you know the connection in advance, you can write two separate stores to get there), but it seems coincidental rather than natural. There are also two really long expositions, one at the beginning for the kid’s backstory and one in the middle for hers. Finally, there is some romance that comes out of nowhere for the character, particularly as you have been in her head for some time and then it’s like, “Cue the romance scene with a guy she knows but we don’t.”.

The Bottom Line

A good second book, the premise is still great.

Vanishing Act by Thomas Perry (2011) – BR00193 (2021) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
June 9 2021

Plot or Premise

Jane Whitefield is a Seneca woman living in NY state. She honours her ancestors and helps those who are in trouble to disappear and start a new life.

What I Liked

The premise of the main character’s “job” of helping people escape bad situations and start a new life — serving as their guide — is a fantastic premise, and the first half of the book is primarily about how she goes about doing her job. While some clients are eased into the process a bit more gradually, her latest client is all-in from day 1.

What I Didn’t Like

You know as the story unfolds that something is going to go wrong, you just don’t know what or when. Despite some initial success, some of it seems even TOO easy for her to do with a minimum of fuss. Mid-book, the type of story changes considerably, as the hunted becomes the hunter, and it isn’t as good as her other books that have a bit more mystery to them rather than action.

The Bottom Line

A great first book in the series, Whitefield is awesome.

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan (2010) – BR00192 (2021) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
June 7 2021

Plot or Premise

A new trio of Jason, Piper and Leo has arrived at Camp Half-Blood and are ready to set off on a quest, but something seems off about not only them and their memories, but also about their participation in a ritual for the children of Greek Gods at all.

What I Liked

The new trio are fun, and there’s enough mystery in both who they all are and why they don’t remember to keep things interesting. Jason has a lot of power, and some knowledge but a goddess has stolen all his memories. Piper has a big secret, namely that someone is whispering in her ear and in her dreams, when all she really wants to do is be in love with Jason. Leo also has a past, too much fire, and he’s really into machines. All great powers to have, and nothing like what we had with the previous campers.

What I Didn’t Like

The amnesia thing for Jason lands a bit trite at times, as he remembers just enough to move the plot along but not enough to be totally useful. The wind gods start off interesting, as does the flying dragon, but eventually they become almost clichés. And the entire media thing is way too Neil Gaiman/American Gods for my taste.

The Bottom Line

Seven half-bloods shall answer the call but we’ll start with three for now.

Two O’Clock, Eastern Wartime by John Dunning (2001) – BR00176 (2020) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
January 12 2020

Plot or Premise

The year is 1942, and Jack Delaney is working as a writer for the local radio station where weird things happen, like actors going missing and potential German spies hiding in plain sight.

What I Liked

The story starts off confused, and a hint of someone in trouble. Delaney has to escape a chain gang to help a woman he loves, even if she is already spoken for in his mind. And the trail leads to a radio station in a coastal town where he gets work. At that point, the story is three-fold — a mystery involving German spies, a love story of sorts, and him learning about the radio business as a writer. The radio business part is awesome.

What I Didn’t Like

The German mystery is confused and the love story doubly so. Most of it makes very little sense and is more “hinted at” than “made real”.

The Bottom Line

Fantastic view of a wartime radio drama.