Book Wrap-Up August

Net yet the end of the month, but I probably wont finish any more books, so here are the books I finished this month. I also started to make book related videos on my Youtube channel, and will hopefully keep that up :)

 Deathworld 2 by Harry Harrison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Was OK, not as much world building as the first, so that aspect of the book suffers. There is one character that should have def. been punched a lot sooner in the story; its one of those characters that just annoys you but that is the point.



West of Eden by Harry Harrison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book deals with what if Dinosaurs were not wiped out and evolved into "civilized" beings and how that effects the humanoids that are around. Its an interesting idea and thankfully they did die out as I don't really fancy being hunted to death just for being a mammal. The main characters are well written, and you get a general idea of what the area looks like, I just felt like the story dragged about half way through and never really got back to the pace it started with until the very end of the story,

And why do evolved dino species have to be evil/up to know good most of the time?

Deathworld 3 by Harry Harrison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Nothing new, follows the same formula as the other 2, so it can get a little tedious reading at times. The beginning was entertaining to read, but then the plot just really started to slow down and drag. If it wasn't for the fact I do like the main characters and how they are written, I would have rated this lower.


Horns by Joe Hill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Guy wakes up with horns on his head, people say all the bad things they are thinking, the character tries to solve a murder, snakes everywhere, bunch of people die, the end :p



The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

grrr my review got eaten again :/

Anyway, I thought this was a good retelling of the The Island of Dr. Moreau, it works well as an introduction to the original story but enough has been changed that you don't always know what is going to happen. With one of the characters, you can figure out pretty early on in the story what is happening to them, but with another I didn't, and I should have because when I look back its pretty obvious lol

This has made me want to reread The Island of Dr. Moreau, since its been 17 years since I've read it and wonder if I still will like it as much as I did then.

The Summer Queen by Elizabeth Chadwick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

You can tell that Chadwick did her research when writing this, the main plot points in the story seem more plausible then in other books I have read about Eleanor. If you read historical fiction at all, or have an interest in England's history, you know what happens during Eleanor's life, but I didn't find this book boring or repetitive. The story flowed nicely, only slowing down near the end when I really felt like the story dragged, but it sets up a starting point for the second book which was probably the point.

Red Rising by Pierce Brown
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If Goodreads would let people rate books a little differently, I would probably give this 3.5 out of 5 stars.

I liked the world building and the explanation on how Mars came to be the way it is in the story, a bit more on the caste system would have been nice tho. This book is really similar to The Hunger Games in plot, just written for an older reader. Unlike a lot of reviewers that loved the ending, I found it actually very dull and boring, tad predictable.

Enjoyed the beginning of the story, and even some parts of the battle scenes, but the only character that I felt was fleshed out at all, was the main character; and there are a few other characters that I felt could have had more written about them.

Another hyped book that in places is worth the hype and in others, not so much.

Appaloosa by Robert B. Parker
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Didn't like this at all and I don't think that is because it is a western. Or it could be if the current western books are like this one. Poor writing, flat characters, full of horrible clichés and really predictable.



Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey


Well paced, really nice world building. Maybe a bit more written on the different levels in the silo would have been nice, but the levels needed to tell the story are explained all right enough to get a sense of what they do. The ending was a bit predictable and the big reveal isn't really that big of a reveal if you have read any scifi/dystopian books before. I have read/heard people complain about the title. That wool has nothing to really do with the story, but I took at as referring to the phrase "pull the wool over someone's eyes" (to deceive someone in order to prevent them from discovering something)