Okay, let's do this. I actually thought 2015 was a pretty good year for books and I'm surprised my average rating was righ[image] [image] [image] [image]
Okay, let's do this. I actually thought 2015 was a pretty good year for books and I'm surprised my average rating was right down the middle. I had lots of pleasant surprises with Contemporary YA and I kicked off the year by helping to over-hype An Ember in the Ashes (I regret NOTHING).
I also started vlogging (and will return very soon), so I mentioned a lot of my favourite books over on youtube. "Favourite" books are hard to pick and I always find myself wondering whether it's really right to include that fantasy that was not even amazing but seriously addictive...
Don't Get the Hype:All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (TFiOS 2.0) Why I Rarely Read Romance:November 9 by Colleen Hoover Weird & Not Good:I Crawl Through It by A.S. King I Am Fantasy, Not Romance (I Also Lie):The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson (pub. 2014) Important Message Fucked Up:What We Left Behind by Robin Talley Chinese Culture For White People:Soundless by Richelle Mead Stupid White Girl Saves Indians:Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck (pub. 2011)
This book, like many others, is recommended for fans of Gone Girl, but I think if you gave it some different marketing and a younger protagonist, you This book, like many others, is recommended for fans of Gone Girl, but I think if you gave it some different marketing and a younger protagonist, you could easily slot this in among the YA/NA romances.
If this book hadn't been the only one I was carrying on a flight, I doubt I would have finished it. The sluggish pacing is more suited to quiet family dramas than thrillers, and yet the characters' lack of depth paired with trope after trope make it fail as a worthy contribution to that sub-genre as well. Try A Spool of Blue Thread or Everything I Never Told You, if that's what you're looking for.
Everything about this book is so obvious. I predicted the ending from the moment Mia is kidnapped (yes, another thriller about a missing rich woman) and - to be honest - started to guess it the moment the book was compared to Gone Girl. I also don't know if the Stockholm Syndrome was meant to be surprising, but that too was obvious almost immediately.
I think The Good Girl needed stronger, more nuanced characters to carry its plot. Instead, we have the kidnapped daughter of a wealthy judge (who also happens to be the black sheep of the family), the aforementioned wealthy judge who is defined solely by his cruelty, the judge's unhappy trophy wife, and the detective who is such a cliche detective that it was hard not to imagine him with a funny hat and magnifying glass.
On top of this, the story is so underwhelming and... boring. In this case, because of the changing perspectives, there is very little mystery behind the kidnapping. We know exactly what happened to Mia and, because of the changing "before" and "after" perspectives, we also know that she will be "rescued".
The story is a long, detailed look at how a girl is kidnapped by a guy who is kind to her, looks after her, and tries to protect her. I was hardly hanging on the edge of my seat and wondering what would happen to her. I mean, I saw the Stockholm Syndrome coming from a mile away. No tension, no suspense, no mystery. Just a predictable "twist" flying in at the end.
Also, I can't remember if anyone else has said anything about this, so it might just be me, but some of the emphasis placed on skin colour made me really uncomfortable. The author seems to go out of her way to point out when the white, privileged characters are minorities - usually to indicate that they are in a dangerous, shady place. What's up with all the "black" and "dark" characters being the bad guys?
There would be no dressing up as a maid. No cyanide slipped into his crystal glass of mineral water. The Fuhrer’s death was to be a loud, screaming
There would be no dressing up as a maid. No cyanide slipped into his crystal glass of mineral water. The Fuhrer’s death was to be a loud, screaming thing. A broadcast of blood over the Reichssender.
This book is an action-packed adventure, but it cannot be denied that a lot of its strength comes from one of the most fascinating premises I've ever read. Two, really. Though this may have been done by other authors, it was the first time I'd read anything like it. Wolf By Wolf imagines a reality based on two horrific "what ifs". And it is damn compelling.
Almost everyone knows about the atrocities committed by the Nazis during World War II, and most people will know of some book or movie that explores the possibility of a world where Hitler won the war. What fewer people know is that medical experiments were conducted on concentration camp prisoners - painful, genetic alterations, attempts to cure homosexuality, injections of dyes to create blue eyes, etc.
Graudin takes the "what if" of Hitler winning the war and pairs it with the "what if" of an experiment that resulted in something else. What if the Nazi's attempt to play with genetics created a new type of creature - a "human" with the ability to shift their physical appearance, to take on the face of someone else? Meet Yael.
This book offers an exploration of identity and the ultimate result of the Nazi crimes - a loss of identity, a loss of a sense of self. Yael can be anyone, have any face, and by doing so, she never really has an identity of her own. This inner struggle is paired with a fast-paced, heart-pounding plot.
Yael is part of a resistance with the ultimate goal - to kill Hitler. However, the Fuhrer rarely appears in public these days, so Yael must go to extremes to get close to him: join and win the Axis Tour (disguised as Adele Wolfe) and then put a bullet through Hitler's heart at the Victor's Ball in Tokyo.
But Yael makes the mistake of thinking her biggest challenge is becoming an expert biker. She gets way more than she bargained for when faced with the intricate web of jealousies, love and backstabbing from the other riders. The author reminds us that humans are complex and layered, and Yael is unable to view the other riders as empty followers of Nazi ideology because, of course, underneath everyone is so much more.
I will issue one warning - not criticism, exactly, because I quite enjoyed it - Graudin's prose gets a little purple at times. I found it more polished and less jarring than in her previous book (The Walled City) but I know flowery metaphors are a deal-breaker for some readers. Otherwise, I thought it was excellent.
Even knowing that the ending couldn't possibly be as neat as planned, I did not see it coming. It opens up possibilities for an exciting sequel, while still drawing a line under this chapter of the story. I cannot wait to read more about this world and its characters - their trials, troubles, struggles and hope.
He hadn’t stood a chance really, but that was the power of hope, the utter cruelty of it.
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