Book Review: The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Publication date: October 2012
Pages: 608
Source: Library
For: Fun
Series: Heroes of Olympus, Book 3

Summary (from goodreads):

Annabeth is terrified. Just when she's about to be reunited with Percy—after six months of being apart, thanks to Hera—it looks like Camp Jupiter is preparing for war. As Annabeth and her friends Jason, Piper, and Leo fly in on the Argo II, she can’t blame the Roman demigods for thinking the ship is a Greek weapon. With its steaming bronze dragon masthead, Leo's fantastical creation doesn't appear friendly. Annabeth hopes that the sight of their praetor Jason on deck will reassure the Romans that the visitors from Camp Half-Blood are coming in peace.

And that's only one of her worries. In her pocket Annabeth carries a gift from her mother that came with an unnerving demand: Follow the Mark of Athena. Avenge me. Annabeth already feels weighed down by the prophecy that will send seven demigods on a quest to find—and close—the Doors of Death. What more does Athena want from her?

Annabeth's biggest fear, though, is that Percy might have changed. What if he's now attached to Roman ways? Does he still need his old friends? As the daughter of the goddess of war and wisdom, Annabeth knows she was born to be a leader, but never again does she want to be without Seaweed Brain by her side.

Things I Liked:
The stories in Riordan's books always keep me entertained.  I also like how his characters have a bit more depth than I used to see.  Percy is still the same arrogant guy, but I like how they all have to work together to get anywhere.  Also, things don't always work out the way you want or expect for the good guys.  Also, Riordan's books are just entertaining.

Things I Didn't Like:
It was a bit long.  I kept hoping they'd get moving on their adventures and they'd run into more monsters or problems.  Sometimes it feels like they play the same thing out over and over and over.  Almost formulaic at this point.  I'm ready for the end of this series, which I will, of course, read. Eventually. (I appear to be several years behind in my Riordan reading...)

Read-alikes:
Anything Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson to start)

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: none

mrg-factor: none

v-factor:->->
plenty of monsters to battle

Overall rating: ***

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Book Review: Fairest by Marissa Meyer

Fairest by Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Publication date: January 2015
Length: 6 hrs, 36 min
Source: Audiobook from publisher
For: Review
Series: Lunar Chronicles, Book 3.5?

 

Summary (from goodreads):

In this stunning bridge book between Cress and Winter in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles, Queen Levana’s story is finally told.

Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told . . . until now.

Things I Liked:
I adore these retellings, though this one was a lot shorter and maybe not quite as complete a story as I would have liked.  I guess it's more like a novella.  It doesn't actually retell the whole Snow White story (as I assume Winter will be more along those lines), but the story behind the evil queen of that tale.  I felt very sorry for Levana throughout the book, and I found myself very sad at the choices she made. I listened to this on audio, and I thought the narrator, Rebecca Soler, was good but not great.  I also own a hard copy, cause I'm like that. I am excited to get to the next book (only a few weeks)!

Things I Didn't Like:
Too short :).  I found the narrator's voice was really great at young girls tones, but her male voices were...not good.  It sounded like a teenage girl's diary read aloud.  Which, I guess it kind of was.

Read-alikes:
Start with Cinder by Marissa Meyer

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: none

mrg-factor: X
a bit

v-factor: ->

Overall rating: ****

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

This isn't What It Looks Like AND You have to Stop This by Pseudonymous Bosch

This Isn't What It Looks Like and You Have to Stop This by Pseudonymous Bosch
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date: September 2011 & September 2013
Pages: 432 & 352
Source: Library
For: Fun
Series: The Secret Series, Books 4 & 5


Summary of Book 4 (from goodreads):

Cass finds herself alone and disoriented, a stranger in a dream-like, medieval world. Where is she? Who is she? With the help of a long-lost relative, she begins to uncover clues and secrets--piecing together her family's history as she fights her way back to the present world.

Meanwhile, back home, Cass is at the hospital in a deep coma. Max-Ernest knows she ate Time Travel Chocolate--and he's determined to find a cure. Can our expert hypochondriac diagnose Cass's condition before it's too late? And will he have what it takes to save the survivalist?

Summary of Book 5 (from goodreads):

I always feared this day would come. A secret is meant to stay secret, after all. And now we've come to this: the fifth and final (I swear!) book in my saga of secrets.
A class trip to the local natural history museum turns dangerous, or perhaps deadly--and I don't mean in the bored-to-death way--when Cass accidentally breaks a finger off a priceless mummy. Forced to atone for this "crime" of vandalism, Cass and her friends Max-Ernest and Yo-Yoji go to work for the mummy exhibit's curator, only to be blamed when tragedy strikes. To clear their names--and, they hope, to discover the Secret--the trio must travel deep into a land of majestic pyramids, dusty tombs, mysterious hieroglyphs, and the walking dead. Egypt? Or somewhere much stranger . . .

In the midst of it all, the Secret still lurks. You're out there, reading and talking about it, and now my life--and chocolate supply--is in the greatest danger yet. So please, with a cherry on top, I'm begging you: you have to stop this!

Things I Liked:
I had a ridiculously hard time getting back into book 4.  I kept forcing myself for some unknown, crazy reason to finish.  I'm not sure why I felt like I had to read the whole series, but I did.  I'm not sure if it was just the book or if it was me, but I eventually hit the point of no return(ing the book to the library unfinished), so I kept going.  It was a good thing I had the last one too.  I kind of started getting an inkling of what was going to be the Secret before it arrived.  I'm glad to have finished this series.  It was atypical and rather humorous at times, if annoying as well.

Things I Didn't Like:
Yeah, I really struggled to care about anything going on.  It's been a super long time since I read the first three books, so I really didn't want to keep going.  But I pounded through and I'm done now.  I started to be really annoyed at how repetitive some of the descriptions of people became.  Max-Ernst, Cass, their parents, pretty much everyone was the same.  I liked some of the puzzles they had to figure out.  And I still think the series is really clever in conception and good in the execution as well.  Maybe too juvenile and annoying at times for me.

Read-alikes:
Not much, though it sometimes felt like Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: none

mrg-factor: none

v-factor: none

Overall rating: ***

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Book Review: Longbourn by Jo Baker

Longbourn by Jo Baker
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Publication date: October 2013
Pages: 352
Source: Library
For: Book Club

 

Summary (from goodreads):

If Elizabeth Bennet had the washing of her own petticoats, Sarah often thought, she’d most likely be a sight more careful with them.
 
In this irresistibly imagined belowstairs answer to Pride and Prejudice, the servants take center stage. Sarah, the orphaned housemaid, spends her days scrubbing the laundry, polishing the floors, and emptying the chamber pots for the Bennet household. But there is just as much romance, heartbreak, and intrigue downstairs at Longbourn as there is upstairs. When a mysterious new footman arrives, the orderly realm of the servants’ hall threatens to be completely, perhaps irrevocably, upended.

Jo Baker dares to take us beyond the drawing rooms of Jane Austen’s classic—into the often overlooked domain of the stern housekeeper and the starry-eyed kitchen maid, into the gritty daily particulars faced by the lower classes in Regency England during the Napoleonic Wars—and, in doing so, creates a vivid, fascinating, fully realized world that is wholly her own. 

Things I Liked:
This was one of the most interesting and best spin-offs of a Jane Austen book I've read. Probably because it had nothing really to do with the story. Makes you think of the Bennet family much differently - maybe not love them as much. It definitely opened my eyes to the working classes at the time and the struggles they dealt with (ugh the description of diapers just about did me in - and I used cloth diapers! :).

Things I Didn't Like:
I really was annoyed with James and what he did near the end of the book - it seemed pretty stupid. Also, the ever switching of points of view got rather annoying sometimes. I didn't notice just how often it happened until someone pointed it out. It happened mid-paragraph sometimes!

Read-alikes:
Tons of Pride and Prejudice retellings and spin-offs out there :)

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !@
probably a few

mrg-factor: XX
some implied and not so implied stuff

v-factor: none

Overall rating: ****

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Book Review: Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date: January 2015
Pages: 336
Source: Library
For: Fun!

Summary (from goodreads):

Children can have a cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill a monster and feel quite proud of themselves. A girl can look at her brother and believe they’re destined to be a knight and a bard who battle evil. She can believe she’s found the thing she’s been made for.

Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side. The faeries’ seemingly harmless magic attracts tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how to stop them. Or she did, once.

At the center of it all, there is a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives. Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there for generations, never waking.

Until one day, he does…

As the world turns upside down, Hazel tries to remember her years pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?

Things I Liked:
Holly Black has serious skills in writing. I got sucked into this gorgeous tale right from the start.  I enjoyed seeing Ben and Hazel.  The story was very complicated and I felt at times I lost my grasp on what was happening.  I did really love the presence of the fey throughout the story and I loved Hazel's story.  The romance was kind of meh for me, like it took second stage to the action and the fairy world.

Things I Didn't Like:
As I mentioned the romance was not so great for me.  Also, some of the action near the end was a bit too confusing to understand.  It almost felt like the whole story (before the end) took its sweet time, but then the end rushed past.

Read-alikes:
The Lynburn Legacy by Sarah Rees Brennan
Lament by Maggie Stiefvater

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !@#
some, a few f-bombs

mrg-factor: X
a few scenes that made me uncomfortable

v-factor: ->->
rather a lot

Overall rating: ****

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

New and Upcoming Retellings, 2015-2016

It's been like a year since I've listed some new and upcoming retellings! (For a more complete listing of retellings, check out my classic retellings and fairy tale retellings lists.)  I've noticed some trends lately, though I didn't list all the books that fit these as several don't have covers yet.  We have lots of Sherlock Holmes tales (not surprising, since the copyright is up), a handful of Frankenstein tales (some not out until 2017), as well as some lovely obscure fairy tale retellings.  Here are some newly released and upcoming retellings I've discovered.


Tear You Apart by Sarah Cross
This is a companion to her other book, Kill Me Softly (a sleeping beauty retelling).  It came out in January of this year and is a retelling of Snow White.


One Witch at a Time by Stacy DeKeyser
This one is also a companion book; the first one is The Brixen Witch (the Pied Piper).  This one is a retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk, not one that's seen a lot of retellings.  It came out in February of this year. 


Beastkeeper by Cat Hellisen
This is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, about the beast (a girl) and the curse that follows her family.  It came out in February of this year as well.


The Cottage in the Woods by Katherine Coville
As you can probably tell from the cover, this is a retelling of the Goldilocks story, but from the point of view of the bears.  Definitely not many of this fairy tale that I've read.  I'm intrigued!  It came out in February this year.


Valiant by Sarah McGuire
Another unusual fairy tale retelling, this one tackles the Brave Little Taylor.  I've yet to get my hands on it, but I'm interested enough to pick it up.  Arrived in April of this year.


Rook by Sharon Cameron
There have been a handful of Scarlet Pimpernel retellings lately, and here's another that's set in the future.  I'm pretty much a sucker for anything retelling that story, cause it's one of my faves.  Came out in April 2015.


Hold Me Like a Breath by Tiffany A. Schmidt
This one says it's loosely based on the Princess and the Pea, and it's first in a series called Once Upon a Crime Family.  I'm sold! Came out in May 2015.


Lock & Mori by Heather Petty
One of several Sherlock retellings that's come out recently.  This one looks intriguing as an origin story, and Moriarty is a girl (obviously).  Coming out September 2015.


The Beast of Cretacea by Todd Strasser
I'm not sure if this is a straight up retelling of Moby Dick or not, but based solely on the characters of Ishmael and a Captain Ahab, I'm putting it in there.  This is a futuristic tale, set in space.  Coming October 2015.


Winter by Marissa Meyer
If you haven't heard about this one, you've been living under a rock.  Yeah! I'm so excited for it to finally come out - in November. Also, in case you didn't know, a retelling of Snow White.


Teen Frankenstein by Chandler Baker
I'm gonna let you guess which book this one is based on. :)  It's first in a new series called High School Horror, with plans to tackle Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Phantom of the Opera in the next books. This one comes out in January 2016.


Blackhearts by Nicole Castroman
This one is a retelling of the tale of Blackbeard, also not something that there's much of (though, I might just be ignorant of others).  It's coming in February of 2016- and I LOVE that cover!


The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine
And here is another Snow White retelling, there are so many!  Coming in February of 2016.


The Great Hunt Wendy Higgins
And for another unusual retelling, this one is based on the Singing Bone, a Grimm brothers fairy tale that I know nothing about. Coming in March 2016.


Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston
Not your typical retelling I believe, as this one "riffs on Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale," and it sounds rather interesting.  Coming next March.


Tru and Nelle by G. Neri
This is also not a straight up kind of retelling, as it's "inspired by the friendship between Truman Capote and Harper Lee."  It sounds rather interesting, nonetheless.  Coming in March 2016.


Red: The True Story of Red Riding Hood by Liesl Shurtliff
This is the third in Shurtliff's series, the first two retelling Rumplestiltskin and Jack and the Beanstalk.  I've enjoyed both of them, so I'm eager to try this one as well.  Coming in April next year.


A Fierce and Subtle Poison by Samantha Mabry
And one more unusual retelling, this one is based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story “Rappaccini's Daughter,” which I've never heard of.  Sounds rather interesting and makes me want to find that short story.  Coming in April 2016.


Suffer Love by Ashley Herring Blake
And to round things out, we have a contemporary retelling of Romeo and Juliet.  This one comes out in May 2016.

Any favorites? Any that I missed?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage