Going Rogue

Going Rogue by Robin Benway

This is the second book in the series. I reviewed the first book, Also Known As HERE.

If you want the first book to remain unspoiled, read no further.

...this might be a very well done follow up to the first book. It continued to be well balanced, have hilarious moments peppered in very serious situations, and seems to capture teenage life for the most part.

Confused?

An amazon summary to clarify, "Being permanently based in a local New York City high school as an undercover operative has its moments, good and bad, for 16-year-old safecracker Maggie Silver. Pros: More quality time with her former mark-turned-boyfriend Jesse Oliver and insanely cool best friend, Roux. Getting to spend quality time with her semi-retired and international spy honorary uncle, Angelo. Cons: High school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations. But when Maggie's parents are falsely accused of stealing priceless gold coins, Maggie uses her safecracking skills to try and clear their names. Too bad it only serves to put her and everyone she loves in danger. Maggie and her "new team" flee to Paris where they must come up with a plan to defeat their former allies." AMAZON LINK OF ESPIONAGE JUSTICE

The amazon summary did a pretty awesome job....even if it did go too far into the story's plot.

...anyways.

So Maggie is still in New York, she's madly in love with Jesse, still rocking it with Roux (which, being the terrible person that I am, whenever I read Roux my mental voice screams ROCKS at me), and lying low.

Maggie's parents are kind of a mystery during this time as it's been about a year since everything went down in Also Known As, and Maggie catches us up on her life of high school drudgery, she mentions nothing of her parents. Are they still working with the Collective and doing missions remotely for them? Something I would like to know....

ANYWAYS.

The Collective has accused Maggie's parents of thieving 10 gold coins from a mission before they even had Maggie and now the scramble is on for Maggie and Angelo to clear their names!

However, Maggie has to work solo.

The humor is on par with the last book, and there were many elements to this book that just made me smile.

HOWEVER. WE'RE GOING TO SPOILER LAND BECAUSE I HAVE AN ISSUE.

Roux (ROCKS!) is Maggie's best friend, has a back story that just makes the heart hurt a bit; when she arrives in Paris and meets a young gentleman, she's like BAM, IN LOVE.

I can't stress how much I hate when that happens. After an hour, you can't just love someone. I'm sorry, but love will always be more of a noun than verb to me in that it's the pinnacle of struggle in humanity. I know I'm getting quite philosophical, but I found it very hard to believe that someone as defensive and kind of ruthless as Roux (ROCKS!) could fall in love that easily. I know there was a line or two of understanding words from Maggie to try to smooth it over, but SERIOUSLY. NO. BAD ROUX (ROCKS!). BE A STELLAR CHARACTER WHO CAN HAVE CONFIDENCE IN HERSELF RATHER THAN DESPERATION FOR LOVE. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO.

ALL THE ITALICS FOR EMPHASIS.

...fin rant.

All in all, I adored the book so much that it makes me want to use italics everywhere.

But I do worry that this is in the vein of the 'guilty pleasure' books I read, so it might not be everyone's espionage story.

Whatever the case is [PUN SO INTENDED].

Happy reading!

Constable & Toop

Constable & Toop by Gareth P. Jones

Disclaimer: This book was published on October 8, 2013, but with typical fashion at this point I have managed to read the advanced readers copy. There will probably be some minor changes between the version I read and the published version.

I think I've started to mention it more how often I fall for the ploy of choosing to read a book when they mention other authors I love. Whether said author writes a favorable review of the book or if the book is being likened to said author's work; I immediately get more curious in the book but still a little wary since I seem to always fall for this trap. 

...the first step is admitting you have a problem, right?

LUCKILY, this book turned out to be wonderful and I was delighted by this book almost as much as I would be by something written by Eva Ibbotson or Neil Gaiman.

So, with all of that in mind.

An amazon summary, "Something mysterious and terrible is happening throughout Victorian London: Ghosts are disap­pearing. When this reaches the attention of the Ghost Bureau, the diligent but clueless Mr. Lapsewood, a paranormal paper-pusher, is sent to investigate, and what he discovers is grave. The Black Rot has arrived—a voracious spiritual infestation whereby empty haunted houses suck in unsuspecting ghosts and imprison them. Lapsewood’s investigation weaves through the plotlines of several other memorable characters—both living and dead—including an undertaker’s son who can see ghosts, a serial throat-slasher reminiscent of Jack the Ripper, an evangelical exorcist, and many more. The living and dead must work together if they hope to destroy the Black Rot—before it destroys both the ghost and human worlds.

This highly atmospheric and bitingly funny ghost story by successful British author Gareth P. Jones will delight fans of Eva Ibbotson and Neil Gaiman." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

THIS BOOK WAS FABULOUS.

I loved the different characters, how the world was built, the mechanics of the world were a bit wonky in a seems like something that would legit happen sort of way, and there were explanations of 'no one really knows' that made sense because no one does really know what happens after death/ghost spirit moves on to wherever on is.

I feel like I've been reading an abnormal amount of mystery themed books as of late so I was kind of reluctant to keep reading in that vein, but I had no problems loving every page of this book!

...I'm going to try really hard to word right now in a more coherent fashion than just LOVE.

...uh.

...love?

DANG IT.

OKAY.

I'm going to talk about the other side of the ghost story; the living.

So Constable & Toop is a funeral service where Sam works with his father; Sam is what the ghosts call a 'Talker' he can hear and see ghosts as if there were normal people. Sam tries to help out the ghosts of London so they can move on through the unseen door. When a ghost is ready to move on, they hear a knocking sound and go through the unseen door before they're gone forever to the next destination in the spirit stop. Working at a funeral home, he comes across a lot of ghosts.

Now Sam's Uncle comes to visit and requests a place to lie low. His father hides him in a coffin and disguises him as a corpse. The police look around, check out the corpse, go so far as to dump pepper on it before they're convinced and leave. As soon as they're gone, Jack (Sam's Uncle) sneezes. Sam isn't too impressed with his Uncle as he comes across as a very unsavory character.

Clara lives in an old house in London which is haunted by Lady Aysgarth; the previous owner of the house. She slowly gets wrapped up in the mystery of the ghosts as well; it started out as an article for Clara, but then it became more of a passion to find the truth. (I really feel like Clara introduced a 'Watson' element to the story in just the recording of events sense.)

Anyways.

I loved getting the different viewpoints of narrators that were followed around. Normally, I'm super concerned that the narrators are going to die except for one because why else switch your narrators around? BUT it's a ghost story so I kind of expected it; it wasn't too throwing of a notion to not enjoy the book.

I loved seeing the different haunts of the ghosts and seeing the ghost society in of itself. It was well thought out and made eerily good observational points on humanity.

The humor was also brilliant.

...

Happy reading!

Enders

Enders by Lissa Price

I read the first book, Starters,and reviewed it HERE. Fair warning, that blog is old, when I was still getting my blog footing, and while I'm not ashamed of it by any means, it is not my best work.

Disclaimer: For some reason, I remember being in love with Starters. I have a lot of rosy memories of it, but I'm not sure if that's accurate. I recall a lot of the plot, what characters I liked/disliked, what points I started having conniptions about what was happening, but I remember an overwhelming fondness for the book. So I'm wondering if my remembered love of Starters ruined my expectations for Enders by setting the bar too high. ...DUN DUN DUNNNN.

Before the plot thickens, an amazon summary, "The riveting conclusion to the sci-fi thriller STARTERS!
Someone is after Starters like Callie and Michael—teens with chips in their brains. They want to experiment on anyone left over from Prime Destinations—Starters who can be controlled and manipulated. With the body bank destroyed, Callie no longer has to rent herself out to creepy Enders. But Enders can still get inside her mind and make her do things she doesn't want to do. Like hurt someone she loves. Having the chip removed could save her life—but it could also silence the voice in her head that might belong to her father. Callie has flashes of her ex-renter Helena's memories, too . . . and the Old Man is back, filling her with fear. Who is real and who is masquerading in a teen body?

No one is ever who they appear to be, not even the Old Man. Determined to find out who he really is and grasping at the hope of a normal life for herself and her younger brother, Callie is ready to fight for the truth. Even if it kills her." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

HOLD UP. If this book is the conclusion, like the finale, as in there will be NO MORE books after this one, then WHAT THE HECK WAS UP WITH THAT 'ENDING'? WHAT.

....WHAT.

....okay, uh. Um. I'm going to do a better summary since that one veered into vague crazy land.

IF YOU DON'T WANT STARTERS SPOILED, READ NO FURTHER.

So at the end of Starters, Prime Destinations is destroyed, they effectively put a halt to enders trying to forever inhabit starter bodies, Callie is having a love conniption as she thought she was in love with Blake but it turns out it was the Old Man (the dude who ran Prime Destinations) the whole time, and the world is still a bleak, miserable place due to the spore war.

OKAY. So.

Enders begins with Callie living in Helena's place, kind of trying to find her lost granddaughter who technically inherited half of Helena's stuff (Callie has the other half - spoilers: Helena died in Starters). Callie is also bound and determined not to hear the creepy voice inside her head anymore.

She wants total control of her body now, and forever more. Callie is trying to take care of Tyler and Michael (Tyler is her brother, Michael is a friend) while she figures her love life out and how to solve all her other problems.

Like someone accessing the chips and controlling the starters with the implants aka Metals.

Things really kick off in the book while Callie is out shopping with Tyler and Michael when she sees an old metal she knew who kind of walked like a robot before being blown up remotely.

SAY WHAT.

The Old Man is back and is rounding up metals for suspicious reasons. Callie rounds up Tyler and Michael, where they both go through questioning and as they leave, Callie is directed by the Old Man's voice in her head to drive to a location...but once she gets there, she meets Hyden; the Old Man's son.

SAY WHATTTTT.

So Hyden kind of kidnaps her to keep her safe and she convinces him to protect Tyler and Michael. Then Callie convinces Hyden to start helping the other metals out by bringing them back to his secure base and housing/feeding them. Good plan right? Protect all the innocent from the bad guys? YEAH!

During this time, Hyden hijacks the body of one of the metals (Hyden is complicated and you should read the book to know his life story - for now, think of him as a super genius who doesn't understand people) and tries to be romantically involved with Callie whose super reluctant since it's not physically Hyden that she would be with.

Whoa.

So I'm going to stop there because the book seems to spiral out of control. In Starters, I think I liked the mystery of the book and the leading up to the reveal of what was happening.

In Enders, I think they missed the mark completely. I want to say they were going for more action/suspense/science fiction, but they forwent a lot of important aspects like gradual character development, developing interpersonal relationships, showing back stories on different people, and continuing to build the setting.

I felt a lot of the writing was very sparse and toned way down while also remaining dry. There was a lot to Callie I didn't like this time since she was such a memorable character from Starters, it was rather disheartening to see her become an ADHD plot mobile.

If there is another book, I'd be disinclined to read it based on the writing of the second book.

HOWEVER, the ending was SO CRAZY I kind of want to see the explanation behind it. I would hope it would be covered in a third book, but I've been proven horribly wrong before.

So, we'll see what my reading load is like when the third one comes out.

Happy reading!

Poached

Poached by Stuart Gibbs

Disclaimer one: This book was released on April 8, 2014...but I read the advanced readers copy because reasons. Undoubtedly, there will be some minor changes between the copy I read and the published version but I doubt they would be enough to change the important bits of the story.

Disclaimer two: I didn't process that this was a second book in a series. There weren't an overwhelming amount of references to the previous book to the point where I felt the need to read it, and everything was explained well enough that I had no trouble understanding any of the relationships amongst characters or the back story of anyone. In summary, you can probably get away with just reading the second book without having to commit to the first book, but it might be a good idea to read the books in order.

So with all that in mind, an amazon summary, "Teddy Fitzroy’s back for another zoo mystery—this time it’s a koala caper—in this action-packed follow-up to Belly Up, which Kirkus Reviews called “great fun.”

School troublemaker Vance Jessup thinks Teddy Fitzroy’s home at FunJungle, a state-of-the-art zoo and theme park, is the perfect place for a cruel prank. Vance bullies Teddy into his scheme, but the plan goes terribly awry.

Teddy sneaks into the koala exhibit to hide out until the chaos dies down. But when the koala goes missing, Teddy is the only person caught on camera entering and exiting the exhibit.

Teddy didn’t commit the crime—but if he can’t find the real culprit, he’ll be sent to juvie as a convicted koala-napper." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

...keep in mind, that the book I read did not provide a summary stating it was a sequel. MY DEFENSE IS SOUND. SHUSH.

Anways, so Teddy is the main character who seems to be a catalyst for trouble in his school or at the zoo. It begins with Teddy being convinced to do a prank for Vance to put a mannequin arm and foot in the shark tank at the zoo. Teddy does so, but he is almost caught, has a daring escape from security through the park, only to hide in the koala enclosure that due to the haste in which it was constructed, has some faulty aspects to it (like shady security and anti-theft features that don't quite work). Teddy waits out the security in the koala enclosure, winds up going home, telling his parents the story, goes to bed.

The next day, Teddy is accused of kidnapping the koala from the zoo (the koala is on loan from Australia so an international incident could be in the brewing) and Teddy is once again on the run from the zoo security (he lives at the zoo in a trailer park of sorts with his folks who both work for the zoo).

Teddy is the one who needs to clear his name as the security guard is determined to the point of stupidity to prove that Teddy is the one who kidnapped the koala.

Teddy isn't alone in his quest to clear his name; his folks, the zoo owner's daughter, a few folks who work for the zoo, and his best friend all help as much as they can to clear his name.

But who really has the koala? The koala needs special food to eat and time is running out before it starves.

SO.

I like a lot of the humor that was throughout this book but there were some realistic situations that made me dislike it a little bit because it rang too true to the real world almost. They were important bits for character building and plot development (in particular Vance's character with all of his bullying), but they were handful of parts that just rankled my spirit. 'Urgh' moments if you will. Still well written and appropriate but just URGH.

But all in all, it was a good read. The ending wrapped it a little too nicely to me (a lot of potential suspects of the koala kidnapping had their actions explained away into other crimes) but that's okay sometimes. It seemed to work for this book as it might be a continuing series. Who knows? I hope there's more. It was fun.

Happy reading!

Hero

Hero by Alethea Kontis

Disclaimer: On the copy I read it's stated that this book is a companion book to Enchanted;I was not under the impression that it was a sequel to Enchanted, but I didn't read Enchanted and as a companion I thought I would be fine. Turns out I really should have read the first book.

An amazon summary, "Rough-and-tumble Saturday Woodcutter thinks she's the only one of her sisters without any magic—until the day she accidentally conjures an ocean in the backyard. With her sword in tow, Saturday sets sail on a pirate ship, only to find herself kidnapped and whisked off to the top of the world. Is Saturday powerful enough to kill the mountain witch who holds her captive and save the world from sure destruction? And, as she wonders grumpily, "Did romance have to be part of the adventure?" As in Enchanted, readers will revel in the fragments of fairy tales that embellish this action-packed story of adventure and, yes, romance." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

First, the amazon summary gave away up until where I left off in the book (halfway). I think they really need to reign it in a bit better.

Second, I maintain that as a companion book, I should have been able to read this without too much trouble deciphering what was happening, who was important, and the whys of most of it. However, much throughout the story it seemed to be about all of Saturday's sisters rather than herself. But the book is supposed to be about Saturday, I think, so I'm not entirely sure if I was supposed to care about Saturday. All of her magical sisters (the other six days of the week) seemed to have much more interesting lives, yet that could have been satirical.

Clear as mud.

I think it was a combination of the writing style, the lack of focus on one character, and the sketchy world building that gave me a giant question mark about the book that I didn't really care to clarify. There was just something about it that rankled me to a point where I couldn't push through it.

I will say that I know a few folks who have muddled through the mess and where pleasantly surprised by the book when they reach about twenty pages after I stopped reading. They seemed to like it in the end.

Perhaps if I had read the first book, I would have already been accustomed to the writing style and better able to carry on.

Either way, happy reading!