Saturday, October 29, 2011

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson (CBR-III #41)


Cannonball Read III: Book #41/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 304 (16,657 total pages so far)
Genre: Scifi

I didn't really expect much from this book. I figured it would be kind of cheesy and reminiscent of Terminator. Add a little bit of Transformers into the mix and I wasn't exactly wrong. However, I did enjoy it much more than I thought I would.

The story takes place sometime in the future where robots and computers are even more commonplace than they are now. Most houses have domestic robots that can wander around the cities and run errands. Then a scientist creates a computer program named Archos who becomes too intelligent and eventually programs all of the robots in the world to turn on humans. The book spans over 2 years showing how the humans fight this war against machine.

This book was definitely heavy on action and light on character development, but I wasn't expecting an intelligent piece of classic literature with a title like Robopocalypse. It's written in a "found footage" type of narrative. Chapters are transcriptions from security cameras and interviews or copies of various documents.

It's a good, quick read for a rainy day if you're interested in the genre. I heard it's going to be turned into a movie even though it was just published this past summer. It might be worth watching.

Monday, October 24, 2011

The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan (CBR-III #40)

Cannonball Read III: Book #40/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 352 (16,353 total pages so far)
Genre: Young Adult/Zombie


Previous books in this series:

***Possible spoilers if you haven't read the first two books***

This is the third book in this teen zombie trilogy. I normally don't care for zombie stories, so I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed these books. I think they actually progressively got better too. In this third book, we follow Annah, Gabry's long-lost twin from the last book. She and Gabry got separated in the Forest of Hands and Teeth as children and Annah ended up scraping by in the Dark City with Elias (also from the last book).

They also really amped it up with a love QUADRANGLE instead of the love triangles we found in the first two books. It's also vaguely annoying and full of teen angst, but the story and plot are good enough to make up for it. Early in the book, Annah reunites with her twin as well as Catcher and Elias just as the Dark City is infiltrated by a massive hourde of the undead.

I thought this book did a great job of tying together the trilogy. I actually think it was my favorite of the three. There seems to be less teenage love drama and more suspense and action in each book. I also like how each book took place in a totally different environment, but still tied together key characters. It kept the series from getting too monotonous. Overall, a good read.

Friday, October 21, 2011

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan (CBR-III #39)

Cannonball Read III: Book #39/52
Published: 2010
Pages: 416 (16,001 total pages so far)
Genre: Young Adult/Zombie


Previous books in this series:

***Possible spoilers if you haven't read the first book***

This is more of a companion novel to The Forest of Hands and Teeth than an outright sequel. It follows Gabry, the daughter of the heroine from the first novel (Mary). In the last book, Mary made it to the ocean after travelling on the mysterious paths through the forest full of the undead. We find out here that she ended up staying in the oceanside village of Vista and now lives in and runs the lighthouse and kills the Unconsecrated (or Mudos, as they're called in Vista) as they wash up on the beach during high tide.

Her daughter Gabry is a teenager who is terrified of ever leaving the fenced in city. However, most teenagers are dumb and easily swayed by boys so she gets talked into sneaking out one night with her friends by Catcher. Catcher (dumb as his name may be) is Gabry's best friend's brother. He's Boy #1 in our required YA novel love triangle. The sneaking out plan goes awry and several of the teens get bitten by Mudos, including Catcher. Gabry ends up escaping.

A few days later, Gabry ends up sneaking back outside the gates to find Catcher, hoping that he didn't actually get bitten and escaped. During this outing, she meets Boy #2 in our love triangle, Elias. Of course he's mysterious and sexy, blah blah.

I actually did like this book, although I could have did without the nauseating love drama. It was pretty bad. This is an actual quote from the book: "His words explode inside me, touching fire along my veins and spiraling into my heart." Ugh. We're bordering on Twilight territory here. I just think these books are better than that -- like they were going for The Hunger Games and the editor told them to just add a little more Stephenie Meyer to appeal to the pre-teens.

I loved how they tied this trilogy together. Instead of being just continuations of the previous books, they follow different characters who have tie-ins to previous characters. The third book in the trilogy is the same way and looks really promising. I think that also helps me stomach the love triangle when I don't have to read about it for three straight books.

Overall, the story is really great if you overlook the teenage romance parts. It moves quickly and the action starts right from the beginning. I love the mystery and the tension in these books and will definitely be picking up the third in the series.

Monday, October 17, 2011

The Death Cure by James Dashner (CBR-III #38)



Cannonball Read III: Book #38/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 256 (15,585 total pages so far)
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

***This is the third book in a trilogy. There could possibly be spoilers if you haven't read the first two books.***

Previous reviews in this series:
The Scorch Trials

If you've read my previous reviews on this series, you know I have a love/hate relationship with these books. To sum it up quickly, I am completely enthralled by the mystery and the plot but I really hate the execution of the writing. My previous reviews (linked above) go more in depth with my thoughts so I'm not going to rehash it all here.

The basic plot follows a group of kids who were put into a mysterious maze in the first book. After they figure out how to escape, they go through the second faze if the government trials in The Scorch Trials. There they find out that most of the world is falling apart due to a virus called "The Flare" and they were part of an experiment being conducted by a group called WICKED to find a cure. In this final book of the trilogy, the group of kids escape from the WICKED compound and try and stop them from continuing their "trials".

The characters were still kind of blah. After reading all three books, I should know these characters pretty well. However, I was still struggling to remember who was who and who did what. Occasionally someone will die and you have to think for a second who that person actually was.

I'm not even going to get into how irritating I find their made up, slang curse words again. It's just annoying. Thankfully, it was slightly toned down from the first two books.

As for the ending, I knew all along I was probably going to be disappointed. I did like how they made a full circle and had to go back to the maze towards the end, but that part was kind of rushed. Actually, the whole ending seemed sort of rushed, like it was thrown together at the last minute.

As much as I am intrigued by the plot of these books, it's really confusing. I never did figure out how exactly they're going to find a cure for a deadly disease by putting a bunch of teenagers through life threatening and horrible situations. A lot of things were never really fully explained or were explained horribly - such as whether or not Thomas should get his memory back. Did it really matter if he did or didn't? They made an awful big deal about it, but it seems like it didn't really effect anything in the long run.

I know I like to complain about these books, yet I keep reading them. I really do like the plot lines and the books move very quickly. There are more twists and turns than in any book I've ever read. It's really hard to put this book down once you start. I can't quite explain why, but as irritated as I might get at this series, I constantly need to know what happens next.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk (CBR-III #37)

Cannonball Read III: Book #37/52
Published: 1999
Pages: 304 (15,329 total pages so far)
Genre: Fiction


Invisible Monsters is narrated by a nameless, faceless (literally) ex-model who lost most of her face in a freak accident. She's telling us the story of her friend Brandy Alexander and how their lives became intertwined. You can't really give much plot without ruining the story since you gradually start understanding more and more with each chapter. The whole story comes together like a puzzle at the end.

I was kind of annoyed at times because most of the time you have no idea what's going on until it is explained later on. It jumps back and forth through time and can get really confusing. Thankfully, it's a short novel with very few characters, so it's fairly easy to piece together the story by the end. The end is worth it though when you finally realize how everything fits together.

I love Palahniuk and will definitely be reading and reviewing some of his other books in the future.

I love Palahniuk and will definitely be reading and reviewing some of his other books in the future.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Perfect by Ellen Hopkins (CBR-III #36)

Cannonball Read III: Book #36/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 533 (15,025 total pages so far)
Genre: Young Adult


I love Ellen Hopkins. Her books are like every episode of Degrassi rolled into a novel. If you're not familiar with Degrassi, it's a Canadian teen soap opera that covers every major teen issue under the sun. Seriously, the teens in these books have more issues than anyone I've ever met. Makes for good reading though since I've read every single book Ellen Hopkins has written.

Perfect is a companion novel to Hopkin's book Impulse. However, it can easily be read on it's own. The book follows four teens who all have issues. Cara is coming to terms with breaking up with her boyfriend and realizing she's a lesbian. Her ex-boyfriend, Sean, tries to win her back by any means necessary. Oh, and he's also on steroids. Kendra is an anorexic model. Andre is dealing with his alcoholic girlfriend (Kendra's sister), her racist father, and the fact that he wants to be a dancer instead of following his parent's dreams for him.

This book was a little slower paced than most of the other Hopkins books I've read. It was a little heavier on the teenage angst and a little lighter on the drama until the end. Then things got much better and more drama-filled.

If you've never read anything by Ellen Hopkins, I'd recommend trying one of her other books first. Try Crank or Burned.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Blood Mountain by J.T. Warren (CBR-III #35)


Cannonball Read III: Book #35/52
Published: 2011
Pages: n/a - (Kindle book - couldn't find pages)
Genre: Horror

I bought this book for two reasons. One, it was cheap ($2.99). Two, it was described as "for fans of Jack Ketchum and Jack Kilborn". I love Ketchum and Kilborn, so I figured it was worth a try.

Blood Mountain follows a recent college graduate named Mercy as she and her father try to bond on a hiking trip up Blood Mountain. Unfortunately for them, a crazy guy named Victor has been stalking Mercy and follows them up the mountain. Sounds interesting, right?

Well, it could have been better. It wasn't awful, but it definitely wasn't up to par with Ketchum or Konrath. Mercy wasn't likable at all until the end. She loves to read serial killer novels and sympathize with the victims. She is a completely pathetic heroine who mopes around and constructs fantasies about every young male who comes across her path. This is probably more of a personal opinion than a criticism of the author, but I want a horror novel heroine who is strong and independent - not Bella from Twilight.

Victor was kind of an irritating character too. He was very cliche at times and I kind of wish they just left out the whole weird, pseudo-religious "cleansing the world" stuff.

With that said, the book was a very quick read. It moved at a fast pace and I didn't get bored - just mildly irritated at the characters sometimes. Mercy also redeems herself towards the end and becomes a character you actually want to root for. All in all, it's worth $2.99 for a quick, trashy read. I wouldn't pay $9.99 for it though.

Serial Killers Uncut by Blake Crouch and J.A. Konrath (CBR-III # 33/34)


Cannonball Read III: Book #33 & 34/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 600 (14,481 total pages so far)
Genre: Horror

I'm going to count this as two books since it's described as a "double novel" and includes two previously published books (Serial Uncut and Killers Uncut), along with a bunch of novellas and short stories by the same authors as a compilation. This book basically includes every Konrath and Crouch character written so far and strings their stories together chronologically.

There are over twenty characters throughout the book who keep running into each other in various stories. Sometimes that got a little confusing, but it helps if you've read any of the author's other books. I've read several, but sometimes the characters got a little fuzzy anyways.

Overall, it's a great book if you're a fan of the genre. It's definitely gory, but not as bad as some of the reviews make it out to be. I've definitely read worse. I'd recommend trying a few other Crouch/Konrath novels first though, or else the story might get a little muddled with all the characters.