Month: March 2020

Amelia Fang and the Barbaric Ball: 1 by Laura Ellen Anderson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My local library has added a heap of new content to their elibrary and I’ve been taking advantage of this.

The Amelia Fang series is written for the younger audience of 9+. Typically, I stay away from vampire stories but decided to give this one a go to see what I thought.

I admit the story is fast-paced. However, the characters and storyline didn’t appeal to me. Yet I believe the target audience will love the quirkiness and wit behind the main characters, as well as their crazy adventures.

I didn’t dislike the book but I’m not eager to search out the remaining books in the series. As I don’t have much else to say for this book, I’ll leave it for you decide if you like the series or not.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was written in the 1980s. Strangely, I had never heard of it until last year when some women at work were talking about the TV series. Their chatter caught my attention. I looked it up and discovered a book existed. I have not watched the series, but now I have read the book.

The book is brilliant.

The storyline is set in a possible near future when the world goes crazy, and instead of moving forward, we go sidewards and backwards.

The main character tells us about her life, then and now. The difference. The confusion. The wanting. The uncertainty. And the fear. I believe each reader will take from this book something different. For me, it told of a woman who beyond all else wanted to survive–and would do anything to achieve her goal. Yet she planned for failure too. She thought of ways to “escape”.

In her new world, who could be trusted? What was the truth? It would be scary to live her life.

Honestly, this book is worth reading. It makes you think long and hard about the world around us, about ourselves, and whether or not the author had a crystal ball. Unfortunately, I can see the handmaid’s life becoming real in some ways if we are not careful.

Recommended.

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In the early 1990s, I read the first three books of the Wheel of Time series. That’s almost 30 years ago, so I was not surprised to find I didn’t remember much. I did remember names and a basic storyline, but no details that scream at me while reading (or in my case, listen).

Back in the day, the thicker the book, the happier I was. However, these days, thick books turn me off reading them. Hence, the decision to revisit this series via audiobook. Audiobooks rock!

The Eye of the World has many characters. It can get confusing remember how they all fit together. I know the characters (as already mentioned), but if I didn’t, I believe I’d be craving more character development. Maybe, if this were the first time I’d read the book, a connection to the characters wouldn’t have taken place. Yet, a link must have taken place 30 years ago, or maybe I just made up my own characteristics for them (it’s a huge possibility). Who knows?

Anyway, I feel as if I know the characters and the rereading of this book was to reintroduce myself to the storyline, of which I remember very little. I enjoyed it then and I enjoyed it again now. It’s a typical fantasy story which moves the characters over vast continents of land looking for something or fleeing from someone (or both). The world is built on a strong foundation.

I look forward to finding out more in future books.

Sorry, this isn’t much a review. It’s more of a pouring out of thoughts that won’t make sense to you. But it makes perfect sense to me. 😀

I am going to listen to the entire series. This is something I’ve been meaning to do for some years and have now started on the journey. As I type this, I’m already twelve or so chapters into the next book.