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DoodlePanda

DoodlePanda reads stuff

Currently reading

Yesterday's Gone: Season One
David W. Wright, Sean Platt
Cress (Lunar Chronicles, #3)
Marissa Meyer
Progress: 37 %
Tales of the Japanese (Illustrated)
Charles Morris
McSweeney's #10
Elmore Leonard, Michael Chabon, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Harlan Ellison, Nick Hornby, Jim Shepard, Michael Moorcock, Dan Chaon, Carol Emshwiller, Kelly Link, Chris Offutt, McSweeney's Publishing, Laurie R. King, Michael Crichton, Aimee Bender, Sherman Alexie, Howard Cha
Insomnia
Stephen King

Review of Awoken

Awoken - Sarah C. Noffke

I enjoyed this audiobook. The story is good, it kept my interest all the way through.
I doesn't have too much angst, thought there is a little teenage drama. And of course the eternal love triangle...

 

The narrator does an ok job too. All in all this was a good way to pass the time while driving to work!


I will definitely be looking into getting hold of the rest of the series, I would like to know where it goes from here, even though it doesn't actually end on a cliffhanger and you could very easily get away with reading just this one book if that's what you would like.

Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2)

The Lunar Chronicles: Scarlet - Marissa Meyer

This story follows on from the first book, and introduces Scarlet (or Little Red Riding Hood).
In my opinion this one is just as good as the first one, so if you enjoyed Cinder you definitely want to read this one!

I will be starting book number 3 straight away, I can't wait to see where the story goes next!

Vessel - Andrew J. Morgan, Victor Bevine

I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook. The narrator did a good job, though some of the voices were a tiny bit off to my ears.
The story feels like a mix of a sci-fi and a detective story. I feel the characters are well written. I didn't really see the point of the reporter at first, but it does makes sense further on in the book.
Well worth the read if you think the story sounds interesting!
And so refreshing not to have a book be number one in a series!!!

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles, #1) - Marissa Meyer

I really enjoyed this retelling of Cinderella. I like the mix of sci-fi and fairytale, and I will be moving straight on to the next book in the series!

Glitches - Marissa Meyer

A nice little prequel to Cinder. It has a little of Cinders background, and what happened when she moved in with her new family.

Reading progress update: I've read 11%.

Awoken - Sarah C. Noffke

Zero (Mech. Chronicles Book 1)

Zero (Mech. Chronicles Book 1) - Adam Moon, L.S. Burton I enjoyed this book. It's not fantastic, but it's ok. Maybe even good. And I am tempted to keep reading the next book in the series. But I know there are 5 books so far, and I have a feeling there will be more. And I am not a fan of everything now being spread out in as many books as possible.
In fact it is starting to annoy me. I understand it is something writers do to make money, but I don't feel like splitting a series up into 200 page books is a good way to do it.

Rant over.

The story is good though, and I might one day carry on reading. But not until I can be sure the series has been finished so I know what I'm dealing with.

Carry the Ocean

Carry the Ocean - Heidi Cullinan There is no way I can write a review that will do this book any justice.

It is beautifully written, with characters you will fall in love with. And it does a great job describing what it's like living with autism or depression/anxiety.

I would recommend this book to everyone. Even if MM isn't your thing, that is so not what this book is about. The main characters just happen to both be male. It is all about love, learning how to live with a disability and that there is no such thing as "normal".

So do yourself a favor and read it, you won't regret it!

What the Night Knows

What the Night Knows - Dean Koontz It has been a while since I read any Dean Koontz. But this will not be listed as one of my favourites of his. It's... ok. The first half I found to be dragging out a bit. In the last 1/4 of the book the pace picked up quite a bit, but not enough to save the book in my opinion.

What made it better than it could have been was the narrator, he did a great job setting the mood and doing the voices of the different characters.

All in all an ok read, not one of Koontz' best work, but not a waste of your time either. I would highly recommend the audio book!

Piken på toget

Piken på toget - Paula Hawkins A lot of people seem to absolutely love this book.
For me it was...ok. The first half of the book seemed really slow paced for me, and I'm not a huge fan of the changing perspective between the 3 characters, or the time jumps. I guess it kinda ruins the flow a bit for me. The last few chapters picked up the pace and was interesting, but I'm not sure it was enough to make me love the book.

Something else that bothered me was that all the characters in the book have massive issues with their relationship, it feels like none of them can manage to stay faithful, the main character Rachel is a drunk and can't remember where she has been and what she has done half the time. Now, I'm not saying people like that doesn't exist, in fact I am sure they do. But that doesn't mean I want to spend my time reading about them. I struggle to find much to like about any of the characters, which makes it hard for me to feel any empathy for any of them.

Do I regret reading it? No, not really. Thought mainly that is because I wanted to find out what fuss was about.
Do I feel like I would have missed out if I had never read it? No, but done is done, and read is read.

It's an ok thriller, and if you like the sound of the blurb I would say give it a go.

Desperation: The Island I

Desperation: The Island I - C.B. Stone, Book Cover by Design *** 2.5 Stars ***

I had no idea what this book was about before I started reading it. I actually downloaded it by accident, looking for a different book with the same name. But, as it was free, I decided to read it anyways.

Reagan is sentenced for a crime she didn't do and gets sent to a reintegration camp for youths, which for some reason is set on an island far out to sea. But on the way there she decides to jump off the boat and swims to a different island where there is a group of people living a seemingly perfect life. But everything is not as it seems...

Something that bothered me was that all through her stay on the island Reagan keeps saying that something feels off, but she still decides to stay on the island. She also decides to trust the people there, even though she has a bad feeling.

Also, I'm not a huge fan of every single book written recently having to be part of a trilogy. This book is about 150 pages, book 2 and 3 each has around 130 pages. So technically, combined they are one single book. And the ending of this one is a cliffhanger, clearly meant for you to read the next one. The first book being free makes it less annoying, but it's still frustrating.

All in all an ok read, if you think the blurb sounds interesting I would try it out as it is free on Amazon. Well, the first books is anyways...

Flesh

Flesh - Richard Laymon, Maynard McKillen I feel this is a classic Laymon book, so if you have read anything by him before and liked it then you're likely to enjoy this one too.

There is plenty of action and gore, so not really for the squeamish .
Laymon does a good job in describing the characters, which quite often have a cheeky comment even in when facing horror. There is also a fair bit of sexual tension, but not as many graphical sex scenes as many of Laymons other books.

I listened to the audible audio version of this book. The narrator did an ok job. It didn't blow me away with its awesomeness, but he told the story without ruining the flow and feel of the book.

All in all a good read, I would recommend it if you're a fan of Laymon or you feel like reading a gory horror!

The Bees

The Bees - Laline Paull I'm finding it tricky to rate this book... I don't think I've read anything similar to compare it with, and to me it seems like a fairly original story.

I did enjoy reading it though, it was interesting to see the life of the bees (though I'm not sure that all the facts are 100% correct). A lot of the time the bees seems to be very 'human' in the way they act, but it didn't really ruin the story for me. It is a fiction after all, so some 'unrealistic' aspects are to be expected in my opinion.

All in all an interesting read :)

Døde menn går på ski

Døde menn går på ski - Knut Nærum *** 1.5 Stars ***

I am going to be completely honest here and say that I didn't get much enjoyment out of this book...

I get what the author is trying to do, but for me it just didn't work. Not once did I even half smile while reading. And yes, it might be that my sense of humor is "wrong" for this book. But I can only rate it the way I see it...

The only reason I finished the whole thing (instead of stopping after 50 pages) is that the book is fairly short and I spent money on it.

Open Minds

Open Minds - Susan Kaye Quinn *** 2.5 Stars ***

I find it difficult to rate this book.

The basis of the story is interesting. It is set in a world where everybody has developed an ability to mind-read, and this kicks in while they are teenagers. The very few that never develops the skill are the odd ones out and are thought to not be trust-worthy. They are often referred to as "Zeros".
I found this to be a very interesting concept, though it poses quite a few questions on how people manage to live with not having any privacy - ever!

The characters feels a little shallow in my opinion. And of course there is the 'obligatory' love-triangle. Though to anyone (except the main character it seems) the choice would be easy as there is clearly a 'nice guy' and a 'bad guy'.

There are a few places in the book that are (to me at least) not logical. The way the main character acts doesn't always make sense to me, but then she is a teenager, so maybe that's why?

I listened to the audio version of the book, and the narrator is ok. She feels a little monotone at times, but it doesn't feel like it ruined the book in any way.

All in all an ok read, I'm not sure I will be spending my money on purchasing the rest of the series though.

Unicorn Western

Unicorn Western - Sean Platt, Johnny B. Truant A fun story mixing western with magic and unicorns. It does have a couple of fun moments, and the story is ok. Not sure whether I will fork out for the rest of the series, at least not immediately.
But if I ever find it on sale, I wouldn't mind seeing where the story goes from here.

It was a quick read, and I would recommend you try it out if you think the blurb sounds interesting!