Book reviews written by liliana s

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Blood on His Hands

by Mark P. Sadler
- Rated 3 stars
“On the pages of this book we meet Michael Renton, his wife Bonnie and Bonnie’s family. Michael’s Marriage is failing because in order to support his growing family he works away from home all week long and doesn’t give his wife as much time and attention as she would have liked. So what’s Bonnie’s solution to the problems? She goes off and finds herself a lover, Ian Walker and slowly (also in a very calculated and methodical way) removes herself and their children from Michael’s life without his knowledge. Her parents, who happen to consider themselves good, church going people, have no problem with accepting Ian as their daughter’s true love and a better father to their grandsons, while their son-in-law busts his butt as a blue collar worker so his wife can have a better life. One can imagine Michael’s shock when he accidentally discovers his wife in bed with a stranger. The shock was so huge that it ended “with a bang”. In a split second Michael decides to shoot Bonnie and Ian, and so end his own life as he knew it. He now has to run, run from authorities, family and from himself. The escape takes him to the Appalachian trail where he plans to die. Unbeknownst to him, Michael is being hunted by someone who wants revenge and won’t stop until it’s executed.

I think that for a debut novel, Mark did a darn good job. Blood on His Hands is a solid, engaging read for thriller fans. The action was flowing smoothly and the story did pull me in quite quickly, I must say. I started reading the book in the morning and finished it in the evening the same day. It obviously wasn’t boring in the least. The thing I liked the most was the way Mark introduces the reader into the whole broken family situation and gave me a new perspective on the killer, with which one usually does not sympathize. Not in this case. Maybe I’m just evil, but I couldn’t help but feel for Michael and understand the reasons behind what he did. I also found myself despising Bonnie’s parents who instead of advising her that maybe cheating on her husband wasn’t the best way to go about the whole ‘unhappy and stuck in a hopeless marriage’ situation, supported her lying, her unfaithfulness, and her misleading tactics. I am leaning towards Mark Sadler’s writing skills, rather than my evil self :).

Another really nice and really unexpected thing for a thriller, was Michael’s internal dialogue and struggle with what he’s done and where that one tragic decision left him and his sons. It wasn’t over the top, I never once thought, ‘Enough of the whining already’, and instead I wanted to find out how he’ll end up. I rooted for Michael because it was clear that he wasn’t a cold blooded psychotic killer. He simply made a very, very bad decision that changed him and people around him forever. And don’t think that it’s all seriousness all the time either. The author skillfully managed to insert humor into Michael’s life on the Appalachian Trail and I was smirking quite a few times.

Of course for a debut novel, there were a few plot glitches here and there. I think that the book could actually be longer. I was looking for more insight into how the two little boys dealt with their mother’s death and their father’s abandonment and instead it seemed like the sons were just necessary props but nothing more. There were a few editorial errors but that’s nothing that can’t be fixed next time around. Overall, I think that if you’re a fan of mystery/thriller books that are a fun and quick read, you should definitely give Blood on His Hands a try. ”

liliana s wrote this review Friday, August 21 2009. ( reply | permalink )
The Plague

by Albert Camus
- Rated 4 stars
“How does one review a classic? I have always had major issues with doing that. I do enjoy reading classic literature, probably more than any other genre, but when it comes to actually reviewing it, I get anxious. Classic literature is, after all, art. And I do not consider myself an art connoisseur or an art critic in any way. Therefore, I struggled with an idea of writing a review of The Plague by Albert Camus. My inclinations were to dive instantly into analyzing, interpreting and playing that torturous game of 'what the author wanted to say'. In the end, I realized that such approach was not going to work unless I would be writing a thesis on Camus, which I have no desire to do.

The action of The Plague takes place in the '40s, in the town of Oran. It is a town just like any other all over the Western world. The inhabitants are busy living their materialistic lives consumed with careers, successes, money and goods that can be bought for it. The lives they lead are, in short, industrial lives with no place for emotions, existential thoughts and spiritual insights. Until, one day the rats start coming out and dying right in the open. The reader already has an idea of what's to come but not the residents of Oran. They are still preoccupied with their orderly lives and the phenomenon of dying rats is nothing more than an inconvenience and an annoying intrusion upon their 'in the box' reality. However, slowly, but surely Oran drowns in the plague, people, instead of rats are dying by hundreds every week and those who are not infected yet find themselves imprisoned in their own homes, their own town, having no choice but to look on their lives from a different, emotional perspective.

Camus tells the story through the eyes of an objective narrator, intertwining it with accounts of personal experiences of major characters: Tarrou, Dr. Rieux, Cottard, Rambert, Grand and Father Paneloux. They are all very different people, who would otherwise never have met and gotten close, but the disease devouring the town brings them together in many, sometimes unpredictable, ways. As it goes with almost all classics, there are various ways The Plague can be looked upon. And not one single opinion will be the correct one. My thoughts on it are many. But the most important one is that it has to be read. Whether one likes it or not, whether the writing seems tedious or there is not enough action going on, and whether it seems difficult to comprehend or not deep enough, it is a novel that is worth the time and effort. Besides Camus's word artistry, the universal theme is what everyone should have the time to ponder upon at least once in their lifetime. The plague is not just a medical affliction, it is a phenomenon which, in its cruelty and indifference, cuts those afflicted with it off from the rest of the world, from their own families even and leaves them utterly alone with their individual suffering. Now, with death glaring at them and coming ever so closely, they question their lives, their morals, they ask who brought it upon them and why, and they never really get one satisfactory answer. How many plagues have afflicted our world since The Plague was written? I think that every misery that brings death, isolation and suffering of the innocents is that plague.

”

liliana s wrote this review Saturday, March 28 2009. ( reply | permalink )
Gauntlet: A Novel of International Intrigue

by Richard Aaron
- Rated 4 stars
“For the past few years the writing market has been flooded with counter-terrorism thrillers. There is a multitude of authors who either want to get in on the writing scene with what’s almost a guarantee for reaping financial rewards, or who are already established writers but switch to this popular genre nonetheless. Among this cornucopia of “doom & destruction” books, there are a few gems worth paying more attention to. One of them is Gauntlet by Richard Aaron.
The plot seems familiar enough: another jihadist is plotting an attack on the U.S. and this time the threat is going to be bigger and better planned than anything that’s happened so far. During the operation of destroying 660 000 tons of Semtex in the Sahara desert 4500 kilos of this highly capable explosive gets stolen. A few days later the world gets a first message out of the total of six transmitted via Al Jazeera network, promising a destruction of “the Great Satan”. And so the race against time and hell-bent terrorists begins. On the American side, we have a newly established TTIC agency, with top intelligence specialists and one very unique autistic young man, who also happens to be a mathematical genius; there is a CIA agent, Richard Lawrence, who is a broken man but also the only person best qualified to work undercover on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan and two Canadian law enforcement officials fighting drug trafficking. On the Middle East, there is Yousseff, a very powerful drug lord with his loyal but cruel and murderous friends scattered around the globe and “Emir”, the main guy behind the plot, who hates America and is bent on destroying it.
The beginning of Gauntlet is a little difficult to get through. There seems to be too many technical and medical descriptions that for an average reader might seem unnecessary and could be skipped. Fortunately, there is also enough action going on from the first pages. So much so that I wanted to keep reading in anticipation of what was coming next. And I definitely was not disappointed. The ending is truly shocking, even for a seasoned thriller reader like myself. The plot is not monotonous, the thinking and acting is quick and I could just sense the energy and anxiety coming off the pages.
The best part of the book, which is also what distinguishes Gauntlet from other fiction centered on fighting with terrorism, is a personal insight in to the minds and lives of both the heroes and the villains. Aaron skillfully weaves in Yousseff’s childhood, teenage years and his rise to power and wealth. Surprisingly enough, I found myself extremely interested and drawn into the mind of this anti-hero who’s a working force behind the attack. On the opposite side of the spectrum, we have “the good guys”, who in many instances are not perfect at all. They are not being glorified, in fact their actions and their thinking gets to be quite frustrating. I found myself thinking: “Are kidding me?!”, “It’s right in front of you, you dummy!” or “Why can’t they just do something?!”. The book certainly got me emotionally involved.
Mr. Aaron’s approach to his characters is quite unique. Not one person is portrayed as “pure evil” or “pure gold”. The fact that the CIA agent is addicted to opiates, the top-notch counter-terrorism experts make questionable decisions or that the top scientists with their intelligence, knowledge and resources still scramble for answers to the last minute makes the book more approachable, the characters more endearing and realistic. By the time I finished reading it, I knew that I would be getting the next installment since I want to know how they all will fare, both the terrorists and the superheroes.
”

liliana s wrote this review Tuesday, February 24 2009. ( reply | permalink )
The Kingmaking (Pendragon's Banner Trilogy, Vol 1)

by Helen Hollick
- Rated 4 stars
“The Kingmaking is a story about one of the most mysterious, legendary characters, King Arthur. It tells the story of Arthur’s childhood, adolescence and his rise to the position of the king. It also tells the story of love between him and Gwenhwyfar, a beautiful and strong-minded woman. It all starts in 450 AD. It’s a period of British history of which not much is known and a lot is shrouded in legend and mystery. But Helen Hollick did a superb job giving us Britain with its villainous leaders trying to usurp power for themselves, with its customs, its brutality, the dawn of Christianity and fading of old gods. Simply put, she brings the Dark Ages to life.

Probably, the boldest move Ms. Hollick made was in giving us Arthur Pendragon as he was before he became King Arthur. His childhood was horrible. He was believed to be a bastard of suspected but uncertain heritage. He was hated by Morgause, a lover of one person that truly loved Arthur, Uthr Pendragon. Because of this one woman’s hatred and abuse, Pendragon grew up to hold all women in disregard, to use them for his pleasure and nothing more. What you’ll read, will be far different from the chivalrous King Arthur of the legends. It is a breath of fresh air, however, because we finally have a chance to take what used to be a subject for fantasy tales, with Merlin heading the company, as a very real and very rich part of the British history.

Another character, just as important as Arthur, is Gwenhwyfar. She is a wonderful woman. I couldn’t help but keep comparing her to Boudica. Gwenhwyfar, Arthur’s one and only love, might be insolent at times, however, one can’t help but side with her. She is strong, stands her own and is very independent, in deed and mind. That is no small feat considering she lives in 2nd century Britain, when women were generally no more than servants and bedmaids to their husbands.

Ms. Hollick fully displays her talent with this first part of The Pendragon’s Banner trilogy. There is enough action and nail-biting moments in there to sit up late at night reading. With her imagination, knowledge and apparent passion, the author pulls the reader into the whirl of life, warring, revenge, loyalty and love. ”

liliana s wrote this review Monday, February 23 2009. ( reply | permalink )
Conan Doyle's Wallet: The Secrets Within

by Patrick McNamara
- Rated 3 stars
“Horror, supernatural and paranormal fiction is among my favorite literary genres. It has been with me since I started to read on my own. First, there were fairies, magical creatures, talking animals and wishes-come-true. As I grew older, I started reading hard-core horror stories which never failed to scare me, but only for a little while and mostly just provided the thrill of being scared but not really taking any of it seriously. On the other hand, I have always stayed away from paranormal non-fiction. Precisely because it is non-fiction and what I would read may actually turn out to be true. Therefore, when Conan Doyle’s Wallet by Patrick McNamara landed in my hands I was wary about reading it, to say the least.
Mr. McNamara is a psychic-medium and his book, Conan Doyle’s Wallet is about his experiences as a medium/psychic. The idea for this book began to take shape after McNamara purchased Doyle’s wallet at Christie’s auction. Through the contents of the famous author’s wallet, Patrick established a spiritual connection with Arthur Conan Doyle. The book showcases Doyle’s revelations on spiritual life and provides a reader with deep questions about and equally deep answers to life on earth and life after death.
The ideas presented are definitely controversial and at times difficult to accept or comprehend. It is important to approach the book with an open-mind and as Mr. McNamara encourages, to at least be willing to question the improbable. The main concept is that of life after death and what happens to us when we die. As a psychic, Patrick gives a reader many examples and proofs that we are indeed spiritual beings, who take on a physical form and after death go back to being spirits. The book is very well written. The author uses simple language, which I personally appreciated the most. Without any convoluted phrases, difficult to understand words or sentences, it is much easier to allow oneself the possibility to comprehend and consider the supernatural concepts. My favorite was probably the wonderful in its simplicity explanation of the Law of Attraction. I have read countless books on that one and I could never quite get it, many writers struggled to write whole books about it and in the end I still thought: ‘Huh? That doesn’t make sense.’ Patrick McNamara’s explanation allowed me to finally breathe with relief, thinking instead: ‘Well, now that’s simple enough. Now I get it.’
Even leaving the paranormal experiences aside, Conan Doyle’s Wallet is very educational and informative. Mr. McNamara gives us a nice biography of Sherlock Holmes’s creator. I was amazed to find out all the facts about Doyle about which I had no idea before (that he wrote historical novels, that he spent most of his fortune on spiritual journey and discovery, just to name a few), I was given a glimpse into the life of the famous magician Houdini and his quest to disprove the afterlife and, as my personal best, I was given perhaps a little bit of reassurance that there is no need to fear the spiritual beings or ghosts.
Conan Doyle’s Wallet should be read by all, the skeptics, the believers or the spiritual seekers as myself because even if you do not agree with the concepts put forward in there as a whole, there are bits and pieces that you can pick out of it and use to your advantage. The idea of afterlife may give you hope that not all is lost, may give you a direction of where your life should be heading, and last but not least may compel you to practice the commonly repeated but not always taken seriously karma, the ‘what comes around, goes around’ attitude to life.
Favorite quote from the book:
"The imbalance is immense between the material and spiritual aspects of life. The material world carries much more weight these days. There is too much pressure and loss of innocence; young people are growing up too fast, leaving a vacuum of respect and self-discipline, and spiritual connections."”

liliana s wrote this review Sunday, January 25 2009. ( reply | permalink )
The Year of Magical Thinking

by Joan Didion
- Rated 3 stars
“It is a work of non-fiction describing in a very raw manner how Joan Didion dealt with the death of her husband of forty years and a death - threatening illness of her daughter. In a very intelligent and at the same time cautious way the author lets us know how much suffering and sorrow the death of her beloved husband has caused her. It is not easy to see it, some who've read it even claim that the language is too technical to convey any feelings at all, yet once you understand the reason behind all the medical terms and all the technicalities, you see all the better how hard, if not really impossible, it is for Didion to come to terms with the death of her life partner. After all it is much easier to write about the pain and suffering if it is not our own. Easier even, if it is completely made up. When writing about your own, it is a process where you learn about yourself, you discover sometimes unsettling things that were there all the time yet you couldn't see.
I will let you read the book and decide for yourself how you perceive it and whether or not you agree with me. One thing is certain, it is not an easy read and should not be read on the beach when you simply have nothing else better to do. For if you do that, you will be disappointed and maybe even not finish it, through no fault of the book or the writer however.”

liliana s wrote this review Wednesday, December 31 2008. ( reply | permalink )
The Religion: A Novel

by Tim Willocks
- Rated 5 stars
“I bought The Religion by Tim Willocks a little over a year ago. Since then it was staying on my bookshelf with hundreds of other books that I just somehow didn’t have time to read. The reasons for it were many but one of them was that I knew the premise of the book which is the time in history when there is a jihad raging against the Western world. I thought I had had enough books about how horrible the Catholic Church was and all the atrocities it committed in the name of God. Boy, was I wrong!
As I already mentioned, the background of the novel is Sultan Suleiman’s jihad against the Knights of Saint John the Baptist who called themselves The Religion. It is obviously a historical novel that takes place in the mid 1500’s. I would list all the main characters besides Mattias Tannhauser but that would be revealing more than I wish. There are a few things however that I will say about this book.
From the very first pages I was amazed at the richness of language the author used. It was a big surprise for me after reading countless other books written in the 21st century. I lost my hope that there will be another writer like Alexandre Dumas completely. Yet, Willocks just might be the one. There is everything in this book a reader would wish for: adventure, love, passion, hatred, intrigue, you think of it and it is there. It is not however a book to be taken lightly and categorized as one genre and not another. The author eloquently weaves love and war together. The ravages of the heart love causes and the damage done to the mind and soul by war make a reader wonder which one is worse and if in fact they might be one and the same. To some war is their hearts’ deepest desire and fighting for the right cause (even if it’s the lost cause) their greatest reward. For others, mercy, passion and love for another human being give the same fulfillment. But for the main characters it is a constant struggle between the two.
One of my favorite parts is music. How beautifully it is described! What piercing impact it has on all listening to it in the midst of terror and horrors beyond our imaginings! Truly, the novel turned out to be much more complex with its paradoxes, idiosyncrasies and similarities between the phenomena of love and war than I was prepared for when I started reading it. The Religion is one of those few novels that a reader finds him/herself reading not for the plot and what will happen next but for the sheer pleasure of reading, the intricacies of language and complexities of character.
I could write much, much more about The Religion and Tim Willocks’s writing talent. Suffice it to say that I was absolutely taken in and while reading the book could not think about anything else. I still think about it now even thought the book is finished. If you pick up The Religion, get ready for quite a ride! ”

liliana s wrote this review Wednesday, December 31 2008. ( reply | permalink )
With Violets

by Elizabeth Robards
- Rated 3 stars
“I read books because I enjoy them. I read books because they allow me to get away from the sometimes crushing reality. And I read books because I can learn a lot from them or thanks to them. ‘With Violets’ by Elizabeth Robards turned out to be a novel I learned a lot from. It is historical novel, taking place in France in the second half of the 19th century. It tells a story of Berthe Morisot, particularly the story of her affair with and love for Edouard Manet and what resulted from it. It is also a story of the beginning of Impressionism, the artistic movement of which I was aware yet I didn’t know much at all. A depiction of this revolutionary movement, despite being in a background, was woven by the author into the main plot so skillfully and interestingly that I could not help but find out more about Impressionism and its main artists. And while knowing that Mr. Manet was indeed a real historical figure, I also found out that the book’s heroin, Ms. Morisot, was one as well.
I will mention one side of the book that I was not particularly happy about first, so I can have it out of the way and move on to the good parts. I have to admit that all the French phrases were irritating. First of all, not all readers speak French. It is okay to throw in a simple word or two, like ‘Oui’ or ‘Je taime’ which I can understand, and it would be enough to put me in a correct mood of France and Parisian society. However, whole sentences which I do not understand make it difficult to appreciate what I’m reading. Second of all, because some French phrases are followed immediately by English translations, it automatically changes the mood from romantic to somehow robotic. My humble suggestion would be to either stick to English altogether or put in French words that are simple enough for a reader and don’t need translations.
Now, that the criticism is out of the way, I have to say that language is very rich, the author managed to insert an abundance of adjectives and make it seem that what I was reading was a true, Impressionist painting indeed.
Most importantly however, ‘With Violets’ gives us a very complex character in Berthe. A woman who must go through a lot of struggles to remain true to herself and to her artistic vocation. I really enjoyed her internal dialogues, her divide between two personalities: Propriety and Olympia (who was a model for Manet’s nude painting which in a way began the breaking away of art from the convention and was considered rebellious and unacceptable), and how these two finally blended into one, giving Berthe a clear picture of who she truly was. The quote below perfectly describes this brave, intelligent and conflicted woman.

“Inside me two Berthes war: one is the picture of Propriety. The obedient
daughter. The proper lady, quiet and contemplative; the other is an impulsive
woman I scarcely recognize – an ugly creature prone to being swept away, she is
not so compliant, discreet, or pensive – an Olympia of sorts.”

‘With Violets’ gives an insight into a heart ravaged by love for someone who is unattainable, an insight into a mind so driven by an intense emotion, a desire to possess what cannot be possessed that all reason ceases to exist, all logic is thrown away and one’s whole life is on the verge of destruction. But it also shows us how this emotional war taking place in Berthe’s heart and mind prepared her to be strong enough for what is to come: painting, breaking away from the artistic regime and following her intuition to create what she wanted, not what was expected of her.”

liliana s wrote this review Sunday, December 28 2008. ( reply | permalink )
A Feast for Crows

by George R. R. Martin
- Rated 2 stars
“As an aged, experienced and incurable reader, I buy books in great numbers. Sometimes I will buy a book that I have already read and I know that this is a title I want to have in my library forever to re-read it any time I want to. Most of the time, like many other readers, I buy books based on opinions of others or reviews I read or even just a brief synopsis of what the book is about, usually written at the back cover. During my bright career in a mighty bookstore as a ….inventory supervisor (hmmm) I would buy books that were being bought by customers most often. I also would buy an unreasonable amount of them then. One of the titles that caught my attention was a fantasy series ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ by George R.R. Martin. It comprised four books and yesterday I finally finished book number four: ‘A Feast For Crows’ and I will not be buying an upcoming part five.
I struggled with writing this review for the whole time while I was reading ‘A Feast For Crows’. I wanted to write an ok review simply because it is a part of a true epic and any writer who is capable of writing nearly four thousand pages without boring the reader to death deserves to have some praises written about them. Mr. Martin did manage to write a true epic and I know that he has hundreds of thousands of fans. One has to have one heck of an imagination to create all the complicated characters, all plots of revenge, raging wars and keep track of it all.
However, ‘A Feast For Crows’ made me immensely upset and frustrated. I really wanted to like it, I love reading fantasy, it is a genre I have read since my teenage years and I had hoped this book to be what I expect a fantasy fiction to be. I wanted hardcore magic (both black and white), supernatural beings and animals with great powers. I found only small instances of feeble magic, there was a mention of sinister supernatural beings that were threatening to overtake and destroy the human population and of big vicious direwolfs. But all that never really came to fruition, I thought that after reading the three previous books I would finally be rewarded for my patience in the fourth one and see these characters play a major role but I was disappointed. All I got was more killings, more fighting and some scheming. A lot of times I felt I was reading some poor replica of Bible’s ‘Exodus’ with descriptions of clans, this man was a son of that one and a cousin of another one and great-great-grandson of this one and married to the girl that came from yet another family of highborns, etc. I skipped many pages because of that, I didn’t see the point in reading something I couldn’t keep track of anyway.
All and all, even though there are supposed to be two more parts to this series I will not be buying them. And going back to the reasons for buying new books I mentioned at the beginning, maybe reading the praises at the back covers simply that convinced me to buy this one in the first place also created great expectations towards the series. One of them praised Mr. Martin as an American Tolkien and believe me Tolkien he is not.”

liliana s wrote this review Monday, December 22 2008. ( reply | permalink )
Outlander

by Diana Gabaldon
- Rated 5 stars
“I started reading ‘Outlander’ a few years ago despite my strong inclinations against reading romance novels. At the time my personal life was not going very well and as an effect I stopped reading this book abruptly due to frustration and anger. Those negative feelings truly had nothing to do with the book itself, only with me wanting to identify badly with wonderful romantic life of the main characters in the novel.
A few days back I had no choice but to start reading ‘Outlander’ yet again. I write ‘no choice’ because someone lent me ‘Lord John and the Private Matter’ which tells the adventures of a character from the ‘Outlander’ series. Being obsessive-compulsive about reading series books, I had to read the first one in Ms. Gabaldon’s before heading on to ‘Lord John’. And I am very glad that I gave ‘Outlander’ another chance. It is a wonderful novel. To say it is a romance would do injustice to it. The book fits many genres really, adventure, historical fiction, fantasy, just to name a few.
The heroine, Claire Beauchamp, is magically transported from 1945 Scotland to 1744 Scotland. There, many adventures await her but most importantly, she meets Jamie Fraser who will become the love of her life. Yes, I said it. I know it sounds cliché but nowhere can that cliché be truer as in this novel. Claire and James are one of the most endearing characters I had the pleasure to meet in a long time. Thanks to the author and her very skillful writing, I found myself adoring the two as separate, complicated, stubborn and feisty characters as well as a couple, joined in bodies and souls through the hardships they had to endure.
That same skillful writing gave me a true insight into 18th century Scotland. I read about the customs, the people, the culture without getting bored a bit but instead wanting to know more. I actually caught myself saying things like ‘Verra weel’ or ‘Dinna kin, lassie’ to my daughter a few times.
And then, to add to all that I got to read a true gem , a statement of a monk which I will carry with me because it astounded me with its simplicity and beauty:

“For that fraction of time it seems as though all things are possible. You can
look across the limitations of your own life, and see that they are really
nothing. In that moment when time stops, it is as though you know you could
undertake any venture, complete it and come back to yourself, to find the world
unchanged, and everything just as you left it a moment before. And it’s as
though, knowing that everything is possible, suddenly nothing is necessary.”

Just for that one fragment the whole book would have been worth reading. But it is worth reading for so much more, for the laughter, for the tears, for the heartbreak, and for the joy.”

liliana s wrote this review Monday, December 15 2008. ( reply | permalink )