Book Lovers Unite! (original) (raw)

Your friendly moderator moved and forgot about this community. But I'm back with a vengeance and hope to hear from some of you! At this point, I have been regularly reviewing books on amazon.com, so I'm just going to start posting past reviews that I wrote for that site. I know the star ratings are cliche but I always feel it's good to help people avoid bad books and hear about good ones! Therefore, I will TRY to remember to post a few reviews at a time on a regular basis ;o) and please please PLEASE if you have read anything good lately...tell us about it! That goes for anything we should avoid, as well...

So without further adieu...

The Princes of Ireland: The Dublin Saga by Edward Rutherfurd (4 *)
I both like and dislike Rutherfurd's style. Having read The Forest, which was decent but not one of my favorite historical novels, I was concerned about Rutherfurd taking on the sweeping history of Ireland, one of my favorite countries. I have to say, however, that he did a wonderful job--he included many things I have studied as well as many things that I had never heard of before. The one complaint I have is that it seemed like whenever I got to the point where I wanted to know more about the characters, he moved tens or even hundreds of years into the future, leaving me just a bit disappointed that I did not hear the whole of said characters' stories. I understood from reading The Forest that this was his writing style, but at the same time, that is the reason I could not give this novel five stars.

The Rebels of Ireland: The Dublin Saga by Edward Rutherfurd (4 *)
I liked the prequel to this novel, but I have to say that I enjoyed this one much more. The one major complaint I had about "Princes of Ireland" was that it would draw the reader in to caring about a particular character or group of characters, and then jump far in the future, many times leaving the character or characters' stories unfinished. Perhaps because "Rebels" covered a more brief period of Ireland's history, Rutherfurd did not abandon so many of his characters so quickly, which I was very happy with. This novel, and its prequel, are great for anyone with a love of Ireland and its history! I only wish that "Rebels" had covered more of the events that happened in the 1850-1900 years, because those are the decades I personally am most interested in.

The Genesis Code by John Case (3.5 *)
I have mixed feelings about this book. As a thriller, it was good--definitely kept me on the edge of my seat. It's not so much of a "whodunnit" storyline, but a "WHY was it done" storyline, and that was an interesting change from the few thriller/mystery novels I have read in the past. When I finally figured out the WHY, I was shocked, because although it is a little far-fetched...it leaves you wondering, "what if?"
Some of the narration, mind you, dragged me down a bit. I just don't think that Joe Lassiter's past love life factors into the story, and yet the author keeps bringing it up. That, and there are certain things (including the main secret) that the reader will figure out long before Lassiter ever does, which gets a little frustrating. Still, if you're a big thriller/mystery fan, or if you enjoyed Dan Brown's books, you will like this one!

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber (3 *)
I was engrossed with this book from the minute I picked it up. I loved Faber's style, I liked the fact that the novel was billed as a "Victorian epic" while still being fairly modern in other aspects, I believed that this novel had taken Faber twenty years to write. So I rushed toward the ending, wanting more than anything to know what would happen to the prostitute Sugar, the poor sickly wife Agnes, the rotund stressed-out businessman William, the quiet and obedient daughter Sophie...and...NOTHING. The novel simply ended, with no apologies for its abruptness, and I felt cheated. I don't require a happy ending to enjoy a book, or even a completely wrapped-up ending, but I feel that this book did not have an ending at all. Disappointing, to say the least, because the rest of the novel was exemplary.