Kendra and Seth start to receive their training from three experts on how to protect the Preserve.
What I Liked
The three experts and their specializations are pretty cool, all with slightly different skills and personalities. And the finale seems like a solid “Indiana Jones” challenge.
What I Didn’t Like
The book is a lot slower than the first, and while Seth isn’t quite as annoying, the ending reads almost like a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (series of chambers, different puzzles) and the main protagonist, Kendra, is relatively an observer for most of it while others do the heavy lifting.
Kendra and her brother Seth protect a magical preserve against dark forces.
What I Liked
Like most stories of youth being exposed to magic for the first time, there is a healthy skepticism like they’re being punked. What differed in this one is that the initial intro is one mostly of light and wonder, not darkness and fear. Kendra and Seth want to explore and see all the wonderful things, without first encountering people trying to kill them. The darkness is revealed more slowly. And so you share that burgeoning love and mystery. I also like the funnier moments, a bit like the humour in some of the Percy Jackson series more so than the constant impending doom in Harry Potter.
What I Didn’t Like
Seth is annoying. Most of the early plot developments are because he doesn’t listen to his grandfather, constantly screws something up, and even after suffering consequences, does similar things again. Separate from being annoying, it seems incredibly repetitive too.
The Bottom Line
A nice preserve to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.
The year is 2098 and the world government has decided to close the last library and destroy all the remaining books.
What I Liked
The basic premise of everything having gone digital, the creation of world governments, and a plague that wiped out most of humanity fifty years before was intriguing. Equally, the idea of the “last library” on Earth being a large structure in Portland was kind of quirky, with two others having been closed in Australia and Europe. And the last librarian wanting to save the books was wrapped in a larger mystery about the content of the digital book copies being changed. Very 1984ish or Brave New World.
What I Didn’t Like
The main character is not very strong, and it is hard to root for him as the “last librarian”. But the book tells you it repeatedly so you don’t forget. There is also no explanation of why it is the Portland library that remains, as opposed to the Library of Congress or something similar, but that’s quibbling. It’s large, but hardly the Library of Alexandria. The story also can hardly go 3 or 4 pages without throwing in a literary quote, all from books already written now (i.e., nothing quoted from the next 50 years, although writing continues) and mostly in the 1900s and American. But it was an “okay” book, with enough mystery to keep me going to the end, probably a 3 rating overall (good). But the ending has a major PoV problem that is typical of beginner writers, and provides no closure to the story. Sure, it’s part of a planned trilogy, but the story can’t even stand on its own as a one-third portion. The whole component they were dealing with basically shifts to being almost a non-story. If it wasn’t on my tablet, I would have thrown it across the room. The only “upside” was that it was a Prime Reading selection so it was free. I will not be continuing for two more books.
A woman witnesses an armed robbery at a truck stop, and as the FBI closes in on the robbers, they worry that the woman saw too much.
What I Liked
The story is told from the perspective of four groups — Lisa, the woman who saw the robbers; Jack, a journalist digging for the story; the robbers themselves; and Frank, the FBI agent hunting them. The story jumps from person to person, which is great for seeing the different aspects of the investigation vs. home life. Short chapters, kind of Patterson-style, keep the action moving.
What I Didn’t Like
The short chapters seem a bit too jumpy in places, and the constant PoV shift isn’t even. The journalist is good, but the backstories for the witness and the FBI agent are overkill. Past losses, current illnesses, everything reads a bit more soap opera-ish than mystery novel. And the final motive for the robbery is ridiculous.
Disclosure
I am not personal friends with the author, but I have met him in person at a writers’ group meeting.
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
